Fishing for Marbles in the Koi Pond
by Shiroi Sagi
Summary: Neji and Sakura are summoned to the Hokage for a mission. They have three months to build up a believable whirlwind romance, marry, and set out to the East Fire Country. There, they will hone in on their target: the corrupt East Fire Country daimyo. They need to approach him as a married couple, off the active roster list. Falling in love is harder than they think.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Sakura was sitting at the table near the windows reading a medical textbook on rare woody shrub poisons when she felt the shifting air from twenty feet away approaching her window. The course was straight for her house. She marked her place in the book with a thin but sturdy sliver of bamboo before standing up to greet the messenger.

Silently, the masked nin kneeled outside the window, as per protocol. "Haruno Sakura, you are to report to the Godaime for an irregular mission assignment."

Inwardly, Sakura sighed, canceling those dinner plans with Team Seven tonight unhappily. She nodded to the messenger, who promptly dropped out of view and began to head back to his headquarters. Bringing with her a small long notebook and a fountain pen, Sakura strapped on her ANBU gear and left, stroking the curve of the kunai handle in her pouch.

* * *

"Tsunade-shishou, I am reporting for duty."

"We'll wait for the second visitor, now," Tsunade motioned to the straight backed wood chairs set in front of her desk, "It's unusual, but please take a seat. This may take some time."

In but a few moments, a knock sounded at the door. "Tsunade-sama, Hyuuga Neji, reporting for duty." He, seeing Sakura seated, took the cue and sat on her left.

"Now, the two of you here, please close the door behind you Rama-san. We're going with the first level procedure today." Following her words, the man manning the entrance to her office nodded and closed the door behind him. Tsunade flew through a series of hand seals before rapping the surface of her desk. Chain-like sutras flowed from her hand, sealing the room from the outside and preventing any breaches of information, both visual and auditory.

"Please take one of three copies of this missive available. Read it now and expect it destroyed the moment you leave this room. Your mission is long-term. You will be acting as spies for Konohagakure and you will travel into relatively unknown areas to obtain what is required of you. For this reason, you are hereby resigned to secrecy in all manners regarding this mission. It will interfere with your personal lives."

Sakura and Neji alike were taken aback. Neji instantly thought about clan duties, whilst Sakura was mourning that Team Seven dinner that she would have to cancel on. "Tsunade-shishou, please tell us what we need to do." Sakura said, her mind whispering every sort of terrible idea to her—assassination, brothels, slavery, poverty…

"You will be going into the haute couture society of the Fire Daimyo of the East Konoha area to learn the following things. Where his loyalties lie, where his money is spent, and you will need to pull off a heist. The two of you will be stealing his inheritance from him. This is manifested in both the physical ruby that should give him the divine right to rule if it were not fake as well as incriminating evidence in his daily habits."

"Then, Tsunade-sama, this problem has been noted before?"

"Hyuuga, Konoha prefers to deal with their problems on their own. This fraudulent daimyo is merely the last bit of the onion root being plucked from the ground."

"So, Tsunade-shishou, what exactly is our role in this? Are we to become his advisors, cooks, best friends…?"

At this, Tsunade couldn't hold back her grin. "I wonder…you can guess, if you want."

Neji grimaced. "We are truly becoming lowly cooks to learn the secrets of a daimyo?"

Tsunade tried to put on a passive face. "I hate to break it to you so suddenly, but you'll be going in as loving husband and wife. Unfortunately for us, the daimyo distrusts single women and men as they are more likely after his secrets and riches: married people seem to be less desiring of others riches. How that makes sense, I don't know. What I also do know, is that he can tell lies very easily. Which means you and Sakura will have to build up some sort of friendship to even begin to dream of getting into his inner circles."

* * *

Sakura was silent in her chair, not sure what to say. She really would have to cancel on Naruto, Kakashi, Yamato, and Sai at this rate. Reading the missive silently, she absorbed the details to the last punctuation mark. Six months. Two ANBU. A mission to become better friends than she was with Ino. Indeterminate time. Newly married couple. New occupations. A mission to become best chums with a volatile daimyo and snoop at this same time. This was definitely going to be a challenge.

She didn't even know Neji that well, to think of it. Besides random rumors about branch Hyuugas as a kid in the Academy, she didn't know a thing about the clan life he led. He sure didn't know a darned thing about how civilians-turned-ninjas lived life. They would have to really spin a good story to convince the daimyo that they had abandoned ninja livelihoods to be "together forever" in the civilian world without constraints.

Here, Sakura realized why she and Neji were picked as the two man team. They really were the most unlikely to be stuck together. Her unorthodox, civilian family and practically non-consequential Haruno name allowed to marry a branch member of the Hyuuga family that was in prime position to become clan heir? Never! So the star-crossed lovers cast off being ninja and go out into the world.

Sakura turned to Neji as soon as Tsunade turned her back to allow them a bit of privacy to talk. "Hyuuga-san, I believe a major change is in order. Walk me back home?"

Neji gave a scoff, but stood, offering his arm. "Thank you, Tsunade-sama. You'll have word on the upcoming nuptials soon. If I may ask about possible resistance…"

Tsunade interrupted him, "Hiashi doesn't need me to tell him to connect the dots himself. Anyone with enough power to stop you two from marrying will already be anticipating something like this and understand the roles you play."

"Then, excuse us Tsunade-shishou!" Sakura gave a wave before stepping out of the bubble of protection, arm linked stiffly with Neji's.

* * *

"Hyuuga-san, if you're going to date me, call me Sakura."

"…I understand," Neji frowned, before saying, "If you must, address me as Neji."

Sakura nodded before clutching his arm tighter in response to a passing pair of ninja. They were approaching slowly, and Sakura looked up to Neji, trying to put a bit of that old Sasuke fire in them, before giggling purposefully at his stoic expression.

This was going to be a long walk.

* * *

"Soooo…these are my living quarters Neji!" Sakura was out of her ANBU gear and relaxed in her own apartment. More open to pretending to date someone she didn't exactly know, she pulled Neji into the kitchen right by the noisy refrigerator to mask their voices.

"Neji, why don't we move in with each other?" Anything was possible for this mission. They couldn't screw it up; it meant the loss of a huge source of power in East Konoha and gaining trust of all the people involved with East Konoha's daimyo.

He nodded. He and Sakura were strangers, but they could connect on a crucial level: planning. That evening, they sat together as tacticians, planning the next six months of their lives on a few sheets of scratch paper.

It was six hours later at midnight when Sakura offered him the guest room and he acquiesced, settling in the down comforter, ANBU gear leaning by the bedpost, kunai under the pillow.

* * *

Neji awoke with a start, hand sneaking to the kunai beneath the pillow before relaxing. It was completely quiet in Sakura's apartment save for the grumbling of the refridgerator and—what was that out of tune humming? He sighed rolling out of bed, letting the memory of the mission wash over him again. Sakura.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Sakura was nodding her head to a tune she'd made up on her own, stirring the dashi stock she was using to make miso soup. The rice was already cooking in the other steel pot and she had the freshly sliced cucumber marinating in some sort of salt and water mixture. Better to make a good impression than none at all!

"Good morning, new best friend!" Sakura said cheerily, adding some tofu to the pot.

Neji grunted, sitting himself down at the table and pouring a cup of jasmine tea. "I'm going training in ten minutes. We'll bump into each other as planned at the ramen stall for lunch."

"Hmm, training at 5:30 in the morning? You can't do that right after eating breakfast!"

Neji frowned. "I have had no problems in the past."

Sakura rolled her eyes, saying, "Of course you don't have any indigestion, you don't eat anything substantial in the mornings—don't glare at me, Hinata's fainted before when she tried your training regimen."

"Not any consequence of mine what goes on with Hinata-sama." Even as he said this, he hid his guilty face behind his teacup.

Scooping two bowls of rice out, Sakura chopped up the toasted seaweed into rectangles and set it on the plate before putting the miso soup in two other bowls. Setting a pair of newly whittled bamboo chopsticks (with the Hyuuga clan crest chakra-carved into the top Neji noted drily) on the chopstick rest, Sakura sat and commenced breakfast.

"You know, I say we change things up a bit Neji."

"How so? Isn't this arrangement unsettling enough for you?"

"Well," she said, stuffing some rice into her mouth, "Go to practice late today. Be embarrassed or mysterious about why you're late. We've got to progress this little romance pretty fast to be marrying within the next half year."

Neji didn't say a word, but ate more slowly, watching with a bit of pain as the wall clock ticked its way past the 5:30 mark. "When do you think I should arrive for training?"

Sakura grinned, stroking her imaginary beard mischievously, "Weeeell…I would personally keep you here for another hour but I think 6:00 is enough for digestion of this meal to go through. Why don't I give you a full exam? I checked the hospital records on you a few months back when you came in wounded on that mission and you haven't had one of those in a year!"

Neji was horrified.

* * *

Stumbling into the training area, senses slightly out of whack, Neji nodded to Sakura before she flash stepped away from view.

"Neji-san! Where have you been? The springs of youth do not flow without regard to time! I cannot believe you are late! IT IS A MIRACLE, A MIRACLE! YOSH! RUN 50 LAPS AROUND THE TRAINING AREA!"

Neji grimaced at the dramatics of Gai-sensei, who, although was only a jounin, somehow still thought he had the power to order him around. But Tenten and Lee looked on, their ANBU gear flapping in the breeze, their faces the look of surprise and confusion, and he decided that perhaps running 50 laps was better than answering their questions.

* * *

During break, he sat down on a log to take a drink of water out of the canteen Sakura had given him as she winked. _Remember Neji! Be mysterious!_ He heard Tenten walking towards his log to sit down. He sighed. And it begins…

"Hyuuga Neji, you look up from that canteen right now and tell me one, why you were late for the first time in…forever, and two, why you have a water canteen for the first time in forever!"

"Hn. I don't have to explain myself to you." Neji hoped that would satisfy his no-nonsense teammate, but there was a menace in her stare that told him he would have to give a little more to be believable.

"I was…occupied this morning."

Thankfully, Lee appeared on the scene. "MY GREATEST RIVAL! WHAT IS THIS? A WATER CANTEEN!" But suddenly, Lee's voice dropped to one of amazement. "You have…the water canteen of one called SAKURA HARUNO! MY FLOWER, WHAT A BETRAYAL!" And Lee wandered off, proclaiming he would do 500 push-ups at once.

Or…not so helpful. Tenten voice dropped low. "Hyuuga Neji, you explain yourself right. Now. What were you doing with Sakura-chan at 5:30 in the morning that caused you to miss an appointment for the first time in seven years."

Neji sighed. Perhaps he would just have to give a little more. "I was talking to her. That's all you need to know."

Tenten crowed in victory, "Ah ha! And the great prodigy admits it! He was held up by a GIRL!" She paused for a second. "Wait, a girl. Haruno Sakura. Holy mother of Sarutobi, I gotta tell Ino this!"

Neji sighed, satisfied. Within the hour, every ninja that met Ino today willing or unwilling would know, as well as any customer that walked into her flower shop during the hours of 3PM to 5PM.

* * *

Neji walked in silence towards the Ichiraku ramen stand. He'd cut off his chakra completely, forcing himself to use his metabolic energy like a civilian to get to the ramen shop. Granted, any ninja would have the maximum efficiency in muscle, stamina, and endurance compared to a civilian, but he still believed it important to move without chakra coursing through one's system. He knew all too well the effects of chakra being sapped from you, or worse, the great pressure of chakra being blocked from circulation.

As he neared the shop, he desuppressed his chakra and felt it. The strange feeling of focusing on Sakura's chakra signature still unsettled him, but he saw her strategically appear from a random jewelry stand to purposefully make her way to the ramen stand. And the drama began.

Neji approached the old man at the ramen stand. He still didn't really know their names. "Excuse me…"

The old man looked up, grinning instantly, "Irrashaimase! Welcome to my shop! What can I get for you today, honorable customer?"

Neji didn't turn when Sakura slid into the stool beside him. "Teuchi-san, forget that honorable customer stuff with this guy, it's his first time, but first timer or not, he's not cool enough for that label! Besides, he was once peering in for a look during the release of the vegetarian ramen, remember?"

Neji chanced a side glance at her. "Sakura, why are you here?"

Sakura grinned wide, saying, "The question is why you're here, esteemed Hyuuga! I'm here to eat of course—oh, Ayame-nee-san, can we get a tonkotsu ramen for me and miso ramen for the newbie? So, why are you here, again?"

Neji cursed her silently for putting him in the position of "pursuer" in the relationship. She smiled sunnily at him, waiting. "I was merely curious about this Ichiraku ramen Naruto has often talked about."

"Good enough!" She bowed her head down, accepting the steaming bowl from Teuchi. "Itadakimasu! I receive the meal humbly!" Blowing on the wooden chopsticks, she dug in. Neji looked down at his own miso, lips curling a bit. He never did like tonkotsu ramen…but for the sake of this mission…

"Here." He scooted his bowl over to Sakura's. "Have some of my miso ramen. We'll switch."

Appropriately, she blushed and said, "Sure, Neji." The old man looked on in approval, completely falling for the ruse. Neji knew that any ninja that came by would be hearing of this little unlikely budding romance. The power of gossip, he thought silently.

As they finished their ramen, Sakura started, "Neji, I'm going to the supermarket. Wanna come?"

Neji tipped the bowl back, setting it down empty. "Gochisousama deshita. Thank you for the meal. I will accompany you—I too, would like to browse the shelves."

They stood almost in unison and Neji paid their bill. Twirling out into the street, Sakura almost crashed into Genma, who almost stabbed himself in the tongue with the senbon. "Whoa, watch it kid!" He threw an easy smile at her, shaking his head seeing the Hyuuga standing there, "Kids these days."

Sakura began walking—almost skipping towards the supermarket at the end of the street. By now, everyone was greeting the energetic pink-haired girl and Neji was waiting for her at every stand.

"Mm hm, I'll be right sure about getting Kenji that cough medicine you prescribed. These spring months are when kids get sick the most, what with all these unpredictable temperatures. Who's that with you, Sakura?"

Sakura hesitantly linked her arm in his. "Just a good friend of mine, Hyuuga Neji."

The shop owner looked impressed. "A Hyuuga? First one I've met, but your clan is notorious even among us common shopkeepers. Pleased to meet your acquaintance, esteemed clan member."

"It is nice to meet you as well. Shall we go, Sakura?"

Sakura nodded, waving a farewell to the bread seller, who looked on them lingeringly, staring at their linked arms.

Bending down to reach her ear, he murmured, "Laid the sugar on thick enough today?"

Sakura giggled in response to the sweet thing he might have been saying and turned to him, pinching his arm painfully, "Shut up, we're going to the store for real. I need to restock."

* * *

Later, Sakura said, sitting on her kitchen counter, "I'm going training in a few, you want to come with?"

Neji was surprised. "Things are moving fast, Sakura. It isn't too suspicious?"

Sakura shook her head. "This is how it works when you like someone, don't worry Neji." She thought of Ino and Shikamaru, who had out of the blue begun to show signs just as they were trying to do now. It would work.

"Then, I wouldn't mind."

"Good!" She hopped off the kitchen counter, her gaze stopping on the arm she had been clinging to for the better part of two hours. "Maybe a few spars will get us both more comfortable with touching and stuff."

* * *

"KAKASHI-SENSEI, YOU'RE LATE! DATTEBAYO!" Naruto shouted loudly, sending a few birds flying from the trees beyond.

"Well, I would say that is the least of your worries, Naruto-kun." Sai motioned to the pair making their way to the red bridge.

Yamato looked up from the tree he was coaxing out of the ground. "Hm. Interesting."

"Kakashi-sensei, I know it's a bit weird, but can Neji spar with us today?"

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. He knew. The old lady acted fast. "Of course. How about I take on Neji today. Naruto, you can spar Yamato for a change, and Sai, spar with Sakura."

They nodded and moved to different parts of the field. Sakura whipped out a scroll. "Yamato-senpai, can we try something different? I want to practice with a naginata."

Yamato nodded and watched as a simple practice naginata appeared from the summoning scroll. It was simple wood and tipped with a freshly sharpened blade. "Let's go."

Spreading her stance wide, she moved her body sideways and pointed the naginata forward. No sense in leaving more body open to the opponent. Yamato eyed her, indicating she should make the first move. Charging forward with a yell, she planted her dominant foot to make a slash at him.

Sweeping back, Yamato made to avoid it, but Sakura twisted the blade and it came swooshing back at him without pause. She thought she'd caught him on the arm, but a poof sounded and a tree branch fell to the ground, sliced in half.

Sakura crouched low, ready to spring up or to dart sideways. She felt a very tiny tremor. Underground! She stabbed the butt of the weapon right below her and felt Yamato's chakra spike. She got him!

He reappeared, nursing a bump on his head. "That was fast: but I don't specialize in close combat. Perhaps we should revert to a normal spar. You'll get more out of it."

She put away the naginata, and readied herself. This time, Yamato made the move. He made a series of hand seals, slamming his hand into the ground. Wood began streaming out from that origin, weaving towards her in a blur. She withdrew her wakizashi, slicing away wood that came too close before letting loose an explosion tag at the origin before rolling back. Yamato had long abandoned his former position and seeing the wood cut off completely, began sparring with her intensely.

Avoiding an uppercut, Sakura blocked and parried. All that was visible to the human eye was flashes as kunai met kunai. The confrontations slowly reached the outskirts of the forest, where Yamato threw three shuriken, one after another. The last one grazed Sakura's shoulder.

She hissed, but went through more hand seals, putting her hands to the ground. A sort of muddy substance trapped Yamato's lower limbs and began sucking him downward. He tried to get out, thrashing. The doton jutsu had the mud up to his chest. He thrashed, sending wood out to try to keep him in place.

He froze, thinking terribly that this was the end. Suddenly, there was a pop. The environment shifted, and his eyes defocused. He was lying prostrate on the ground, a large amount of foliage disturbed by his thrashing.

"Here, Yamato-senpai."

He took her offer of water shakily. "That was a very believable genjutsu. I am…still shaken."

Sakura laughed loudly, "Ha! So it worked! I've been developing it with Hinata for some time now. If it had the slightest chance of fooling Byakugan, I wanted to try it with you."

Yamato, despite being an ANBU and one of the most trusted ninja under Hokage command, shook his head at this girl. She was rising in strength, fast. The genjutsu had lasted longer than he had thought, and he could see Neji and Kakashi, already done with their spar, watching from beyond the treeline.

"Don't worry guys, Yamato is alive!"

* * *

"Alright, I'm heading off." Kakashi waved, before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"Me too, Sakura-chan! Heard about you and Neji—don't stay up late!" Naruto grinned before running off towards Ichiraku.

Sakura and Neji sighed simultaneously. Sai and Yamato had both left without goodbyes, so it was only them.

"Let's go home?" Sakura asked, looking up.

Neji shook his head. "I have nothing at your apartment that would allow me to shower. Perhaps we can part now and announce our intentions officially to Hiashi-sama the next morning. I will speak with him tonight."

Sakura agreed, and they went their separate ways: Neji to his clan compound in the north and Sakura to her apartment to the east.

When Sakura got back home, she scanned the kitchen warily. Something was off. Her perceptive eyes picked out the little obstruction even in the muted shadows of evening. A piece of paper was on her orderly kitchen, tucked under the toaster.

Flipping a switch to bathe the room in light, Sakura deftly snagged the paper from the toaster. She could feel the chakra residue that Tsunade had left for identification and opened it, sinking down into a chair. It was only accessible by her chakra signature, she found, noting the technique with interest.

_Haruno Sakura, _

_I'll make this brief so you can get your beauty rest. We're sending you out even two months early so you guys had better get notoriously in love fast. This missive is pretty informal because it was decided in the clan meeting just a few minutes ago. _

_Hyuuga Neji has been sent a similar missive. You will meet him in my office tomorrow at 7AM. Questions? Too bad, save them for later._

_Don't be late, _

_The Fifth Hokage of Konohagakure (ah, the satisfaction of writing my title)_

Sakura sighed wearily. Sometimes, faking affection for the stoic Hyuuga was just too brain-bending. She couldn't have met anyone less receptive, let alone responsive to human contact. At least Sasuke met her fangirling with some level of annoyance, as punishing as that response was. With Neji, there was nothing. Even Naruto would have been fun to flirt with, if that extreme was reached.

She wondered about how weird the clan meeting must have been. The four noble clans of Konoha, the Hyuuga, Aburame, Akimichi, and Uchiha clans met in clan meetings to discuss the issues of the village. As the Uchiha clan was completely wiped out, only three clans met these days. But she thought of testy old Hiashi-sama, watching as the heir-apparent was carted off to be in a potentially reputation bashing relationship and abandon ninja duty to go and spy on some random Fire daimyo.

* * *

Neji awoke, refreshed and in his element. The soft cooing of mourning doves and carefully selected bird species greeted him. The Hyuuga compound, branch or main, was designed for ultimate comfort and religiously stuck to traditional Japanese themes. He decided this tatami and futon was much more preferable over the suffocating weight of down and wools. Outside, he was greeted by the familiar plinking of the water in the bamboo fountain. Ah, in his element indeed.

"Uncle, ohayou, good morning."

Neji had taken the trip to take his morning tea in the main compound with Hiashi. Hiashi looked at him knowingly over the cup. Neji sighed, seeing all these nonverbal signals.

"I must…ask something of you."

"Don't restrain yourself."

"I am…" he was a bit pained to say this, "interested in a girl."

"A girl, you say? Who might this be."

"Haruno Sakura, the apprentice of the Godaime herself. You have seen her abilities with your own eyes when she came to spar with Hinata-sama."

Hiashi, of course, could have no say against it, but if he were asked about this courtship, he would tell the unassuming offender that he was allowing Neji an indulgence—to play around before he is truly arranged into a marriage.

"Neji, you ask much of me but I believe this may teach you some lessons. Bring her for tea in the afternoon." There, he thought, enough vagueness to pass as believable. He finished his tea, not willing to draw out this little conversation any longer.

Neji followed his uncle out the shouji door. He had not walked a few meters when he was confronted by Hinata.

"Is it true, Neji-san? Are you…?"

"Hinata-sama, I cannot lie to you. I am pursuing a relationship with Sakura."

Hinata's face broke into a shy smile. "I can see the effect she has on you: you look better rested and you just had a breakfast. I am happy for the two of you!"

Neji turned away, continuing on his way to the main gate. He would have to find Sakura. He stopped at the gate, wondering where she would be at this hour. There were signs of life as the shopkeepers began preparing for the day. He made his way first to her apartment, flash-stepping to save time.

Once he had gotten there, Neji could feel instantly that she was not there. He turned to follow the tracks she might have left behind. None. Neji sighed, lost as to what to do: sometimes, he wished Sakura were less careful. He made a turn and headed to the Yamanaka's flower shop.

* * *

"Yamanaka-san, can you tell me where Sakura is?"

Ino looked at him long and hard. "What's up?"

"Yamanaka-san…"

She grinned at him, breaking her façade. "Of _course_ I'll tell you, I do believe in true love!" She winked and put out a thumbs up. "Buy a flower for her when you find her: she doesn't have a particular favorite flower, but I think a sunflower would be nice. Last I saw her, she was heading for training."

Neji peered at the sunflower display, chose the healthiest looking one, paid, and set off. He wasn't sure when he would find Sakura.

* * *

He was at training ground three, but Kiba and Shino were practicing there. "Excuse me, Aburame-san, have you seen Sakura?"

Even Shino had some sort of glint in his eye. "Hmm, Hyuuga-san, I would suggest you go to the Hokage Tower. I think Hokage-sama had sent for her; she let us have the training time she wasn't using."

Neji grumbled, impatient. He hated wasting time. Finding Sakura without any clues was difficult because she seemed to always find a way to be completely occupied with something different at every hour of the day. He nodded to Shino and flash-stepped away.

The Hokage Tower loomed in the distance, its great bay windows glinting in the sunlight. He paused at the guard at the door. "Has an ANBU by the name of Haruno Sakura entered the Hokage Tower recently?"

The random nin at the door was a rookie, who was shaking visibly. "N-no, Hyuuga-senpai, you've just missed her. I last saw her going towards the hospital. I think it's her shift."

Neji shook his head. He ran quickly towards the white building, desperate to just get her the message and go meditate or train. He saw her pink hair bobbing towards the hospital doors. "Sakura!" he shouted uncharacteristically. The people around him glanced at him. It didn't work. Instead, he spiked his chakra. She turned—thank Sarutobi's grandpa.

"Neji! What are you doing here?"

He snapped at her angrily, "I've been tracking you with no evidence for the past half hour." Neji looked down at the sunflower that was, surprisingly still hanging in there. "And this. This sunflower is yours." He bent down to her ear, looking as though he was saying something sweet. "And I am almost at the end of my line. You're to accompany me for tea at the clan compound today at 4PM."

Sakura laughed, the sound disappearing in the wind. "Neji, you're so sweet! Thank you!" Her eyes told a different story. She was completely late for her hospital shift…Sarutobi's underpants, why didn't he come at a different time. She, attempting to be girlfriend-y, dropped a peck on his cheek. And then she sweat-dropped. Stupid Neji didn't move a muscle. What a bad actor, she thought, annoyed.

"Alright, you've made me late for my shift. You get to help me do my rounds now."

Neither knew it consciously, but their hearts fluttered just a beat faster. Whether that was anger or love…it was certainly some sort of passion.

* * *

Neji was in a stark white room where Sakura was attending to the elderly. For rounds, Sakura was mainly assigned to elderly patients because of her positive effect on them: the bright color of her hair, her energy, and her personality. More serious medic nin attended to the middle-aged patients, while older medic nin attended to the myriads of children coming in from day to day.

"Isha-san, doctor, what ails me? My back aches and I have headaches."

Sakura smiled indulgingly. Neji was filling out the medical chart with his by-the-book handwriting while Sakura interviewed the old man.

"You don't need to call me isha-san, doctor, please call me Sakura-san. Now, what have you been eating the past week? Let's start with a basic health check-up…"

And so it went, for an hour. Neji was patiently filling out medical charts, dogging Sakura's footsteps. Her job was quite interesting. He was impressed by the depth of Sakura's knowledge and her skills with elderly people. Usually, civilians were the patients, but from time to time, there would be an esteemed elder from a ninja clan.

"See, with the honored elderly, it could be a rich civilian or one with high standing in a ninja clan. Typically, these patients have assigned medic nin that administer the care in the comfort of the patient's own home."

Neji nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, Hiashi-sama does have someone that sees to his illnesses as well. I have never seen the medic nin, however: they are extremely sneaky."

Sakura laughed out loud. "Yes, well, we are told not to intrude. It's funny because…I am Hiashi-sama's oh-so-trusted medic nin. I was assigned to him a year ago after his primary medic nin, Ayako-chan, took maternal leave in early February."

Neji was surprised at this, and said, "Medic nin are sworn to secrecy? When did you see him?"

"Well, I can't tell you that! It's all confidential!" She leaned over the break lounge table and pinched his cheek. "Okay, let's go, beloved boyfriend. I actually need to do a bit of poison work in the greenhouse today before heading out with you."

Neji followed her, every inch the dutiful boyfriend.

* * *

Overwhelming the security seal on the greenhouse door, Sakura let Neji in. The greenhouse was muggy and hot: Sakura kept her ANBU vest on, however. "We don't want to be caught off guard by some of these poisonous feelers," she said cheerfully. Neji sweat-dropped.

Neji relaxed on the stool as Sakura went through and checked on all the plants, making sure the watering system was doing its job and trimming back some shrubs. She hummed but the sound traveled slowly through the heavy air, making the sound waves bounce all around the room. Neji activated his Byakugan to follow Sakura around the greenhouse, unwilling to get up from the stool.

"Are you not making poisons?"

Sakura half-turned towards him. "Eh, not today. I would, but I think we should both freshen up before making impressions on Hiashi-sama, right? Now…where was that clipper…"

* * *

It was much later when Sakura finally flash-stepped back to her house. Neji had already teleported to his own room in the branch member compound, and Sakura was now cleaning up. To meet such a highly esteemed member of the ninja class, Sakura would have to bring it all out, even disregarding this stupid mission. Romance or not, she definitely didn't want anything negative on her reputation.

Going to the only well-aired room in her apartment, Sakura approached the gleaming cedar-wood chest. It was a special 100% cedar chest for storing silk kimono. This kimono was worth at least a lifetime of salaries, but a kimono seller had bequeathed this precious length of cloth to her after she had worked with him (and saved his life) during a mission. Kimono had to be wrapped in breathable paper—washi paper—and if cleaning was necessary, the entire kimono had to be separated into its original pieces, cleaned by a professional, and resewn back together afterward.

For those reasons alone, Sakura hated to take it out. But this was the occasion, she thought. She scrubbed her hands vigorously in the shower and tried to rid her body of oils and dirt. Her hair was already arranged in a traditional style, straight down the back (as short as her hair was) and tied with a small black tie at the very end of the tail. Holding her breath, she opened the chest lid.

The silk seemed to glow a bit, and Sakura lifted the deep crimson cloth. The cranes with their bobbing necks and crooked legs and the white plum blossoms were almost in motion as the cloth pooled a bit on the tatami mat. She sighed at the beauty. Some things were worth a lifetime of salaries. The obi was black and dusted with gold.

It was quite some time later when she had finally gotten the undergarment kimono and actual kimono layers on correctly. Tying the obi in a simple way to show deference to Hiashi, she turned to second drawer in the chest. Pulling out the silk tabi socks and wooden geta, Sakura was finally ready. She would not risk running or flash-stepping to the compound. Instead, she readied herself, picked up the fan and traditional silk purse, and teleported to the perimeter of the compound.

* * *

She planted her feet when she appeared to avoid falling, and slowly shuffled to the gate, restricted by the kimono and geta. Bowing to the guards at the gate, she entered with Neji, who had appeared just as she had teleported onto the scene and spiked her chakra.

"Think the old man will approve?"

Neji sniffed. "Hiashi-sama will certainly be understanding to your circumstances, but I am also certain that 'old man' is not the right term to address him with."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Oh, let up, will you? I'll behave like an angel when I see 'Hiashi-sama,' alright?"

It wasn't long before Hiashi himself greeted the two nin at the entrance to the tea room. "Please, be welcome."

As Sakura entered the tatami room, she bent to shuffle forward on her hands and knees as was the custom in a tea room. Her geta were already outside. But Neji stopped her. "There's no need for that."

She stopped in relief. The kimono is saved, she thought. She immediately noticed the suffocating nature of this room. It was sealed from the outside, just like it was during the mission briefing with Tsunade. Hmm, pretty fancy, she thought.

"Take a seat. You may have already noticed, but this room is secure. I understand what you are undertaking, so there is no fear. I believe the wedding is coming in some three months, is it not?"

Sakura and Neji looked at each other. "Yes, that's right. We haven't really gone over how we're going to turn in resignation forms and run off together to East Fire Country. But eventually, we'll get ourselves some sort of a mansion or compound up there and start blending with the elites."

Neji nodded, and continued with Sakura's explanation. "Uncle, is there any advice you would like to offer us inexperienced spies?" He said this in respect to his Uncle: he was not inexperienced in spying. However, he had seldom had to act as a spouse to other ninja for the sake of a mission.

"Don't be discovered. I say this now: if you cannot add a real emotion to what you do, that fire daimyo will know. I have dealt with him before. He saw past even the façade of the head of the Aburame clan, despite his eyes and mouth being covered. I would…not be opposed to a true union between the pair of you."

Neji was frozen. Even his uncle had jumped on the matchmaking bandwagon. Sakura laughed out loud, and said, "I love all of my friends deeply, so it's okay! We'll have lots of fun."

On the other hand, Neji was more morose about the matter. Real emotion…he supposed that he could channel a bit of his brotherly concern for Hinata into this thing. But was it going to be enough?

* * *

It had been a good two weeks of sneaking around, trying to spread the rumors about a possible romance, when Neji unexpectedly made the first move. He told himself that this sort of thing was propagated by the male counterpart, and that in order to remain the dominant figure in this relationship to preserve his reputation as a all-around role model Hyuuga heir-apparent, he would have to do it.

So, resolved and resigned, he proceeded to do the most non-manly thing he could think of in the privacy of Sakura's kitchen. He inhaled sharply…and turned on the stove. Hyuugas have to be good at everything. They are good at everything. They—Oh shoot. He turned off the stove. The crepe was near burnt, but he saved it from being totally inedible.

He decided that complicated Western cooking might be a little out of reach. Instead, he made tofu dango and ichigo daifuku. He boiled some spinach, tossed it with soy sauce, and finished off the bento with three well-shaped—perfect!—onigiri. Each had a different flavor: umeboshi, tempura, and miso. Nodding in approval at his _perfect_ bento box, he wrapped the lacquerware in a deep brown furoshiki and set off to the training ground, where he hoped to surprise her.

* * *

Once he arrived at the training grounds, he was pleased to see they were just wrapping up. Team Seven was used to his appearances by now, and Sakura ran up to greet him.

"What's up, Neji?"

He froze for a moment—what should he do? Touch her hair? Touch her hand? Touch her…back? What was he supposed to touch again? He didn't know what to do for a moment, when she saved him from embarrassment again.

"What's that you've got there?" Sakura pointed at the furoshiki. Neji gave what he hoped was a proud smile. He hugged her close—a bit stiffly, but that was totally okay, he thought—and pressing his lips to the top of her head, presented her with his soul—okay, no, the results of his hard work. She was, as he had expected, he thought smugly, happily surprised. Or, she didn't say anything negative.

"Wow…uh…Neji! This is unexpected…want to share? Here, we can sit at this bench—I was going to tell you about how training went and—your hair looks nice today and, uh—anyway, let's just sit." She was blushing hard. A bit too hard. He leaned down. "Lay off on the blood flow Haruno, you look as though you might pass out."

She smiled sweetly at him, but he noticed that the redness had decreased significantly. Activating his Byakugan, he watched, fascinated, as Sakura mentally directed the chakra flow pressure in her face back where she had summoned it from. And slowly, the blush disappeared.

Sakura and Neji had by now made their way to a bench in the training area's outskirts. Neji sat upright, legs on the ground and arms at his sides. However, Sakura curled up beside him, worming her way under his arm as she folded her legs beneath her. He reluctantly wrapped that arm about her shoulder, allowing her further into his personal bubble.

A snick sounded as Sakura opened the bento. They began with the onigiri, splitting each into halves. "So, Neji, how are you doing today?"

"I've decided we should go public." He wanted to scoff in amusement at the two ninja spying in the background. "Most of the ninja we know already have some sort of inkling about our relationship anyway."

Sakura ducked her head, eating another bite. "But Neji…it was a lot sweeter having you all to myself these past months!" Another gasp from the bushes. Months?

"I don't like all this sneaking around. Besides, you will be moving in with me in the clan compound. That should make it obvious enough."

Sakura didn't know about _that_ part of the plan. "Oh…I suppose. Then, how—"

"No need." He bent closer, pressing a kiss to her cheek. "We have company."

* * *

A few punches later, Sai and Naruto lay prostrate on the ground in the wake of a furious kunoichi. Neji and Kakashi held her back as she pointed her finger. "YOU! AND YOU! DON'T THINK I WILL FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS EPISODE. If ANY of you eavesdrop again…" Her carotid artery throbbed with the passion of her speech. "I'll have you two…DO MY LAUNDRY. GOT IT?"

There was no answer from the unconscious boys.

* * *

It wasn't even a week later when Sakura packed her entire life into two suitcases, bound all her weaponry into summoning scrolls, cleaned her apartment, and paid the last month of rent and headed to Neji's compound. She had thought this would be easy: dealing with Neji only and living a blissful life: taking advantage of the great living area and ignoring the fact that it was all a mission. Take what you get, right?

But…no. The moment she entered with her short pink hair and extremely expressive green eyes, she knew she was an outlier. Every person in the compound had curse seals (that were, unhelpfully, green like her eyes), dark brown hair to the waist, and colorless iris' to match the pale stoic white of their silk garments. Dressed in her own ANBU gear and spandex leggings, Sakura certainly felt the stares. Sometimes, she didn't even know where the stares were coming from—they could all use the Byakugan to spy on her from even the underground kitchens.

"Neji, where's my room?"

Neji motioned to his own room. "It's connected in here. Traditionally, to protect a future bride, she would stay in a room adjoining the groom. Any perpetrators would most likely encounter the groom before the bride. That's old tradition now, but unfortunately, due to the circumstances, Tsunade-sama expressed the wish that you would stay here."

Sakura nodded. This would be helpful in terms of planning and communication. However, she'd be stuck here. Under stupid Hyuuga's watch all the time. She made to unpack her suitcase, but Neji stopped her. "There is a nosy little elder over there. Kiss me."

Sakura didn't know if she could kiss on command, but she'd done enough cheek pecking that perhaps it would work. Their first kiss on such a short notice…she sweat dropped.

The kissing process seemed to last forever because of their abilities to slow down actions in order to plan and think. His large hands were about her shoulders, guiding her to him, and she had awkwardly tried to put her hands somewhere, but gave up and just decided to clutch the front of his shirt. Tipping her head back, she raised herself up a bit to reach the taller Hyuuga's level and their lips met. She pulled on every bit of romance novel she had ever had the misfortune to suffer through, any sort of gossip from Ino and even tried to search the archives that had Kakashi talking about Icha Icha in it.

She was determined not to bump noses and had already turned her head to the side. Neji was obviously as much of a newbie as she was but somehow he had the confidence to move. And it worked, her feelings exploding like fireworks. She closed her eyes and let him suck her bottom lip, moving her arms to go around his neck and into the nape of his hair.

They drew apart, and padded all the way into his room before Neji slid the shoji door shut. Sakura was wide-eyed. She collapsed into the bamboo chair to the side.

"Wow. That was awesome."

Neji smirked, his confidence and ego inflated to the very max. "Of course it was. Now, we were going to unpack?"

* * *

The kiss was forgotten, as amazing as it had been. Such was the nature of the mission and the nature of any ninja. It wasn't a survival tool yet, so they held it in low regard until it would be useful again.

"Hey, Neji, hand me that scroll."

There was a small scroll the length of a chopstick. Opening it with a flourish, she did the summoning jutsu. In a poof, a large cedar chest appeared on the ground. She looked up expectantly at Neji. "Where do I put my kimono?"

Neji tipped his head back thoughtfully. "That silk is much higher quality than the silk that we wear every day," he said, pulling at his own shirt. "I believe that Uncle has his own place for kimono like that. You may be able to store it there."

"Okay!" She hopped up, packing the chest back in the scroll, and went out to find Hiashi on her own. She turned the corner and bumped into a small child who had dried tear tracks on his cheeks. Sakura melted on the spot at the sight of the kid.

"What's wrong, chibi-chan?" She knelt down to his eye level.

His face twisted and he pointed his nose up. "Hmph! You may address me as Yosuke! I'm no chibi! I'm the second son of the great Hiashi-sama's grandmother's second daughter's middle son's son's family! I come from afar—" he pointed at an adjoining set of stairs, "And I seek medical aid for my ailing hand!"

"Yo-chan, how old are you?" Sakura was literally melted pudding at this adorable kid's feet.

"It's Yosuke! I am seven years of age this next month!"

"Alright, let me have a look at your hand, Yosuke-chan." She took his left hand in hers. "It seems you've just got a skinned palm. I'll speed the healing process, but you know it's not one-hundred percent effective to heal everything with chakra. You've got to let the body heal itself too!" During that speech, she'd left only a raw pink patch.

"Let's take a visit to the in-compound infirmary, Yosuke-chan."

Completely sidetracked from her original goal, Sakura accompanied Yosuke to get an herbal wrapping for his palm. She sent him back to his rooms, chuckling, and finally started on finding Hiashi.

Hiashi was sitting in the garden, pensively staring at the koi in the fish pond.

"Hiashi-sama, may I intrude?"

He looked up. "Sit. What is it that you ask?"

Sakura held up her scroll. "I need a place to store my kimono. Do you perhaps have a place I could place it without fear of damage?"

He nodded, and stood. "Follow me; I will show you my private kimono collection."

She felt extremely special and excited until, "It's a pretty well-known collection. Any kimono maker worth his salt has seen it, anyway." She face planted mentally, abolishing all thoughts of being special.

* * *

Neji was quietly studying arts of war from the old shinobi wars when Sakura slid open the shoji door. He turned his face towards her and was greeted by a kiss—a short peck, but the second kiss nonethess. Sakura was unaffected and sat down on his futon and began trying to make a ball of water over the large wash basin she had brought up from the kitchens.

So this was what life was going to be like.


	2. Chapter 2

**Note: Don't accept any methods, theories, or scientific evidence presented in this story without considerable research on your own. Enjoy!**

Chapter 2

Neji was doing kata in the garden, going over the basics of the basics. Sakura didn't understand why he was doing lunges when there were harder skills, like twist-turn sweep-kick uppercut combos. She sniffed snottily at the kata he was doing and turned back to her pestle and mortar. There were more important things at hand.

She grinded away at the tough leathery leaf, irritated. The stupid ingredient had been causing her grief for quite a while now. This oh-so special leaf was from the legendary 7000-year old "leather tree" and was rumored to be able to cure a large majority of illnesses. Of course, the rumors didn't mention how she was supposed to find the plant, let alone administer it safely.

It was only after begging the Aburames to let her into their private scroll collection, throwing up her hands in frustration after finding out that they had never categorized the innumerable scrolls they had, and categorizing the entire collection on her own for two months that she was finally able to get her hands on something about this leather tree. And then, she found out the leather tree was only growing in the far, far, northeast part of the Land of Earth, which was governed by Iwagakure. And that, my friends, is as far from Konohagakure as you could get.

Sakura then proceeded to appeal to Iwagakure's council to allow her a passport on the grounds that it was a peaceful, medical-backed journey to gather materials. Though nations were at war, humanitarian stuff like this should be, allowed, right?

Fortunately for Sakura, they had a deathly ill elder that their own medics, they admitted with shame, were unable to diagnose. So a deal was made. It was great fun to be staying in Iwagakure. Sakura, in a show of goodwill, brought Shino with her so he could conduct research on the geographical differences in bug species. The Kamizuru clan and the Aburame clan had been at odds on the battlefield, but Sakura brought the heir apparent to express trust and gratitude.

So she diagnosed the elder and thankfully got to bring her back up to normal health. If she had died…Sakura shuddered to think of what sort of war that would have provoked. She finally got to journey out into the wilderness and she and Shino became attuned to each other easily. Sakura admitted that she was still creeped out by the bugs.

The leather tree was less imposing than Sakura had imagined, and she took seeds, roots, leaves, stems, and bark home. She worked with lab rats and only the one fed leaves survived past the first five minutes of experimentation. Only the leaves were safe for consumption.

Now, she was trying to figure out how to make an edible version. For the rats, they were made to nibble the materials, which took the better part of ten minutes. But dried…these leather tree leaves were like leather. And impossible to grind.

"GAH!" she exclaimed in frustration. Neji was done with his morning kata now and crouched by her where she sat cross legged, mortar held still on the garden grass with her two feet as she grinded intensely at the section of leaf. He was close, and she could almost feel his disdain.

"Shut up, Neji, this is really hard."

Neji sat seiza, crossing his arms. "I said nothing. Just cut it up into smaller and smaller pieces. You can cut it with the surgical technique, can't you?"

Sakura whipped around, glaring, "If you knew anything about antidote-making, you'd know that you have to grind the ingredients THIS way with THIS mortar and THIS pestle, or else the structure of the carbons interferes with how the body receives the medicine."

By now, the stares of every Hyuuga younger than twelve and older than forty were trained on them. Neji was taken aback by her frustration and horrified at the direction this was going. Gently slipping the poor pestle from her hand, he turned her tense body round to face him. "You need to relax. Abandon this mortar and pestle for the time being and join me for tea." With that, he pressed a kiss hesitantly to her mouth.

She deflated and took the mortar and pestle back to her rooms, grudgingly sitting down in another one of those calm-inducing tea rooms. Shaking out her bun, Sakura sipped at her tea stonily. The silence was overbearing.

"I just can't get this stupid leaf to reduce itself to powder! It's not like I couldn't make it powder on my own, I have to do it with the clockwise-clockwise-counterclockwise method. Or I might kill the next person who gets it. I haven't even started on trying to figure out the right additives to make it edible and digestible for a human body.

Neji shook his head, sipping at his green tea. "It seems the leather of the leaf is bringing you trouble. I know very little about botany, but pride or not, you are attempting to save lives. Go ask the Nara clan for their help. They—"

"Yes, yes, I know…they wrote the Nara Clan Medical Encyclopedia. I just want to figure it out on my own." But she relented at Neji's stare. She sighed, remembering that she'd have to solve this before resigning as a ninja to find that stupid East Fire Country daimyo. Darned daimyos, getting more and more corrupt by the year.

* * *

Time passed quickly for the two pseudo lovebirds. Everyone already knew they were engaged and all that and there was so much fake uproar in the elder's council circle about the union that the people of the village were absolutely head over heels in support of them. They went everywhere together. Sakura often trained with Neji, learning more about him and herself each passing day.

"Why do you always do the easy kata in the mornings, Neji?"

Neji looked up from the shuriken he was sharpening. "It is important. You never think about it, but you practice the basics for your healing arts every day as well. Every little boy's paper cut that you heal is a basic for you."

Here, Sakura squealed, completely charmed by the self-righteousness of the adult-wannabe Yosuke. "I suppose. But I suppose that makes sense. Your combination kata are always a bit more precise than mine."

"And in battle, one centimeter of air could be the difference between life and death."

She nodded thoughtfully. "Alright! Wanna help me with the naginata? It's a female weapon, so even as civilians, it wouldn't be weird for you and I to practice some sort of school of combat."

And they took up their stances again, standing in the middle of a previously already wrecked training area. "Close combat, no chakra. Think you can take it, Neji?"

He motioned with his hand, stony-faced already. "Make your move."

And she did, launching herself forward, using the practice naginata as a pole vault, slashing it down right over his head to score first blood. He whipped away, his twist-turn perfect as ever, left leg sliding in position for that kick to catch her when she touched ground. She grinned, slamming the butt of the naginata into the ground lifting her body to swing around this makeshift tree, nearly catching Neji over his head with her spinning legs.

Yanking the naginata out of the ground hastily, she turned to block Neji's long katana blade. She turned to parry, shifting back and forward to match his footwork. She noticed how he seemed to look in the direction he would be attacking. Ha, she thought. His moves would be easy to read.

But Neji similarly found Sakura's flaws. She favored her right side, so he purposefully moved to attack her left. Panting, they both drew back to lock gazes. Fighting on physical stamina alone, Neji had the upper hand for sure.

But then...a trickle of blood dripped down Neji's left hand. First blood! "YES! I WIN!" Sakura was about to do a celebratory dance, when Neji straightened, smirking. "No, it is merely a tie." He motioned to her lower calf, where a cut had sliced open the fatty part of the leg.

She laughed out loud, sealing her naginata back into the scroll. "Good spar." She shook his hand good naturedly. "Now let's go get a shower, I'm sticky…"

* * *

Hiashi had greeted the two wearied ninja on their way into the compound. They planned to retrieve their clothes and go to the clan bathing rooms, located in a separate part of the Hyuuga territory. Hiashi coughed. "Visit the onsen. It may do you good."

Wide-eyed, the two young adults shuffled red-faced into their rooms to gather the necessary robes and clothing. Sakura, since moving here to live among Hyuugas, had bought more appropriate silk wear to make an attempt at blending in with the uptight Hyuuga dress code. Appealing to the clothing provider for most Hyuugas living here, she ordered herself a few sets of silk shirts and dark silk pants.

The concept of a hot spring was not only relaxation, but the idea that all people in the hot spring were reduced to their basal quality: a human. Hyuugas from all walks of life were allowed to bath here. After all, a Hyuuga elder stripped in the bath was not physically different from the next Hyuuga that worked in a bakery shop. The cursed seal was another thing, but onsen ideals were onsen ideals. And Hyuuga were people of tradition.

The typical bather would first scrub himself clean in the showers before partaking in the onsen. Cleanliness was key. The onsen was not for bathing or getting clean: you would be clean before entering the bath.

Neji was reluctant to bear the cursed seal to any person, let alone Sakura. Sakura hummed away in the female's shower rooms, not concerned with her appearance in any way. ANBU had little time to be bothered about that and she had spent more than enough time being vain as a kid.

"Neji, you ready?" She was in her robe, hand towel and wooden washbasin at hand. He emerged, clean, his geta tapping on the wooden floor of the bathhouse.

The private bath had the option of a barrier in the middle, but Sakura and Neji were obviously unable to take advantage of that comfort. But, Neji thought, the comforts of an onsen after a chakra-less spar was worth it.

"Stop staring at my forehead, Haruno."

She coughed, looking away. "Sorry, but it's just really fascinating…"

He sniffed, sliding the shoji door shut and entering the bath, robe and all. She followed, slipping into the bath a few feet from him, and began to scoot reluctantly closer. Onsen were always more relaxing alone.

"Hey, Neji," she began, body submerged to the chin. "Are you getting it removed because you're the heir apparent?"

"I cannot simply 'get it removed.' It is complicated, and I have been preparing for a ritual like that for years."

"Ohhh, so it's possible, then?"

"Yes. I will likely have the ritual performed before we are married."

Sakura was still unused to this idea of being engaged. "Well, that's good…" she trailed off.

Her gaze wandered around, settling on the very imperial looking bun on Neji's head. Neji could see the direction of her gaze and nodded to himself. He did think his skills with hair styling were also _perfect_. He had done it in a very imposing manner, high on his head and tied with a silk black tie. The steam of the shower had made a few strands go loose, but that was of little consequence.

Neji turned away and leaned back, eyes closed. The wonders of a soak…

* * *

Nothing spectacular had happened in the bath, the Hyuugas eavesdropping decided, disappointed. They were the perfect couple, restrained in public, and, they whispered to themselves conspiratorially, passionate alone. They were referring to the few intense kisses that Neji and Sakura had planned and put into motion.

Those sorts of things were always products of real emotion: how could one kiss well enough to fool all of the Hyuugas if it were not at least half genuine emotion? For one, Neji noted, they had been sitting facing each other on his futon. Sakura had been reciting a haiku to him, about a bird or whatever, and she signaled him quietly. This was the moment.

"Was it okay? I wrote it with Shino when we went to the Land of Rock." The room was silent, the chirping of courting crickets the only sounds to break the silence.

"It was well-balanced." He leaned forward, causing her to lean back as well, his colorless iris' staring into her own. She laid back, hands around his neck, the haiku forgotten on the pillow. She was stretched out, legs under the cotton sheet, while he was straddled over her, hair hanging over his right shoulder.

She closed her eyes, arching up a bit on her elbows to make his job easier. They basically snogged like that for a period of time, to the delight of the matchmaking mothers and the disgust of the toddlers who were trying out their Byakugan for the first few times.

Sakura was happy that at least she and Neji had figured out how to kiss properly without awkward limbs and weird angling. She decided that this job came with perks: if she couldn't date because of this mission, she could at least snog with one of the most eligible bachelors in Konoha. Not bad at all!

Neji, on the other hand, found nothing to say about this affair besides that, he remarked with relief, that he was not completely ruining his reputation. It could be said that it was also a relief that someone more tactful and smart was running the operation with him. If it had been Ino Yamanaka here…he didn't want to venture there.

* * *

The Hokage saw fit to see the pair again three weeks before their intended date for leaving the village. Tsunade saw with approval that their mutual chemistry had improved drastically.

"I am pleased to say that I've been hearing a lot of gossip about you two in not only ninja circles, but civilian circles as well. It's annoying, but it's good. I think you have the plan working well enough. Take these last three weeks to slowly see your friends more as you prepare to leave."

Neji stood in respect. "Tsunade-sama, shall we assume we have applied for being taken off the active roster? The notice is two weeks, after all."

"Yes. I will see to that in the next week. We cannot actually take you off the roster, but you may assume that you are before you leave."

"Thanks, Tsunade-shishou!"

Sakura stood and took Neji's arm again, leaving the office with him. It was extremely different from the first time they had been here. She sauntered out with him, leaning close and their conversation friendly.

* * *

It wasn't very long before Sakura finally collected on that dinner with Team Seven. She embraced her team members affectionately. "Today is a get-together for us and only us! Neji's out with his own team, so we can take advantage of this evening and stuff ourselves. My treat!"

Sai nodded, entering the respectable restaurant. The waiter bowed, saying, "Irrashaimase! Welcome to the shop! How many will be dining?"

"Five, please! YOSH! Let's spend Sakura's money!" Naruto followed the waiter closely into depths of the restaurant, excited to be seated.

They sat, and Kakashi pulled out Icha Icha. Sai was painting lions on the napkins, Yamato was mending cracks in the wood, and Naruto was salivating over the menu as Sakura looked on, bossy as ever.

* * *

A steaming bowl of the restaurant's own version of traditional ramen stock and noodle was placed in front of Naruto. The entire party shared a plate of nigirizushi, with neta, toppings, like salmon, eel, tuna, clam, and octopus. Sakura herself had ordered katsudon, while Sai had ordered takoyaki. Yamato and Kakashi both decided to have oyakodon, but Kakashi also got tempura, claiming he was hungry.

"So, Sakura, how are things with training going?" Naruto had just gulped down a mass of noodles and nori.

"Oh, it's okay, you know, typical stuff, getting the naginata under way, running laps, ectera. Nothing exciting. You?"

He puffed out his chest. "I've been assigned a mission by the old lady and I'll be leaving for that soon."

Sakura laughed, and Sai interjected in the conversation, breaking away from the dull topics that Kakashi and Yamato were talking about. "Naruto-kun is merely going on a mission. You will be surprised to hear that I—"

"That you're going to go teach some little kids, bah! Laaame." Naruto pushed Sai out of the way, continuing, "Baa-chan's totally got some sort of master plan. All Sai's gonna be doing for the next six months is teaching at the Academy."

Sakura gasped. "No way! Sai, that's great! You'll be able to make a direct impact on the lives of the ninja of tomorrow." She turned on Naruto. "Baka! You should be supportive of your teammate!—Sai, when are you starting?"

"Oh, I believe I will be there when the school year starts for the Academy students. I am teaching the wilderness class to help them prepare for missions that require tenacity and stealth. It may turn out well."

Sakura hugged Sai happily, and said, "Of course it'll turn out well! You'll do great, just smile more and get a tan, and maybe you won't creep out the newbies." Sai sweat dropped.

* * *

After the dinner, Kakashi offered to walk Sakura home. Right through the busiest part of Konoha. Voices masked by the hubbub, Kakashi turned on Sakura, slipping a rather fat scroll into her pouch. "For luck. Congratulations on your marriage."

Sakura disappeared into the Hyuuga compound, waving goodbye to her former sensei. She weaved her way through the halls and steps of the Hyuuga compound to get back to Neji's room. Sliding open the shoji, she called, "Tadaima, I'm home."

Neji stood from his seat in the chair to greet her tiredly. Pressing a kiss to her lips, the action now quite familiar to both, he explained his weariness. "I have been trying to arrange the state of affairs in the manor we will be using. It is actually conveniently owned by the Hyuuga household, but I must dispatch workers to repair and clean the manor."

Sakura nodded, and drew him over to his futon. "It's late, almost ten. Go to sleep, Neji. I have something for us to read together so I'll join you in your room in the early morning." She smiled warmly at the Hyuuga, considering him a friend now, not the cold imposing ANBU she had once imagined him as. He was still cold and imposing, but she regarded him with the same loving care as she did with Team Seven.

Neji lay back, allowing his brain to put him to sleep. His nights were typically dreamless, but tonight, he dreamed of green. The deep, emerald green branded on his forehead. The green that had always been a part of him…but would soon be gone. He was fitful, imagining the process gone wrong and his brain cells shutting down on him. It was three in the morning when he awoke with a start, hand on his forehead. Standing to face a mirror, he saw the cursed seal, almost glowing in the shine of the luminescent sliver of moon in the night sky.

Sakura was out of her bed already, but relaxed when she ascertained there was no threat. She stepped out of her room, murmuring to him, "For the sake of Sarutobi's pants, why are you up, Hyuuga?"

He grimaced, making to wrap the cloth back around the cursed seal. Sakura stared at it through the mirror. "Stop it; you'll be overheated if you wear that thing to sleep." She took his hands in hers and put the silk on the table. Releasing them, she turned away. "Let's read this thing, I don't think I can go to sleep anymore."

Neji sat by her, intrigued. The light in his room flickered a bit, and Sakura pulled out the scroll. "It's from Kakashi sensei. I don't know what it's about yet, but we'll see."

She pulled the string on the scroll and began to read.

_This scroll is for the eyes of Hyuuga Neji and Hyuuga Sakura only. _

But it was blank after that. She looked at Neji, puzzled. He rolled out the scroll, but not a thing was written on it. "I know what to do," he said quietly. "Your blood, Sakura."

They simultaneously applied one drop of blood to the scroll, and silently, the blood began the separate, blooming from that spot, blending into black ink characters that ran across the scroll's length.

_Greetings to the newlyweds! This scroll has many seals upon it and has been approved for usage by the elder council and the Hokage. It will be blank—even the beginning message—to anyone that does not have either of your chakra signatures. It works as a two-way mirror. You write here, and the messages will appear on its sister scroll in the possession of Hokage-sama. She will check once every night for possible reports. If you have something urgent, this scroll is not ideal. However, it will be blank for writing each time you open it for use. _

_Happy writing, _

_Yamanaka Clan_

That made sense, Neji decided. The Yamanaka clan was, after all, specialized in espionage and information gathering. It was well suited that they were the ones to manufacture this scroll. They rolled up the scroll, and Sakura yawned. Perhaps she would be able to nap a little longer. It was still around three in the morning anyway.

She struggled to her feet, and bid Neji goodnight. "I'm going back to sleep after all. See you in the morning…"

* * *

They set out together in the morning, cleaned up but still sleepy.

"Hiashi-sama, ohayou, good morning…" said Sakura as she trudged up the stairs before Neji.

Hiashi was serene, almost blending into the garden as a part of nature. He made a sweeping motion in front of his seat. "Please be seated. We have much to accomplish today."

There was a rustle of silk and both young adults sit stiffly in their chairs. The choking bitterness of the tea woke them up quick. "Sarutobi's pants!" exclaimed Sakura mentally before forcing down the tea and making a face. Neji was stoic and sipped the tea, but he had straightened a little too.

"Uncle, we will not ask you to accompany us, but may we borrow Yosuke for an afternoon? He has been very interested in conversing with Sakura."

Hiashi nodded, saying, "You have my consent. However, you must obtain similar agreement from his parents."

* * *

With that done, the pair of ninja knocked politely on the frame of the shoji door. There was a pattering of feet. A well-groomed boy slid the door open with a well-practiced snick. Neji thought amusedly to himself that this kid probably practiced opening doors to visitors for hours to get it right.

"This is the household of the family descended from the great Hiashi-sama's grandmother's—oh, Oisha-san, Miss Doctor!"

Yosuke bowed to Neji, who put on his own airs to accommodate the growing little boy. "We come to seek the counsel of one Hyuuga Iwako. Is she available?"

Chest puffing, Yosuke made a grand sweeping motion that looked a bit silly because his arms were too short. "This way, please, esteemed guests!"

They stepped into the quiet rooms of his family. His mother, Iwako, was playing the koto when the pair came in. "Thanks, Yosuke-chan!" Sakura ruffled the hair on his head. The boy tried to dodge and backed out of the room, escaping to his own room.

"I am Hyuuga Iwako. Neji-san, how may I help you and your fiancée?"

Neji bowed, before entreating, "Iwako-san, may we take your son out for a trip to buy our wedding attire? I heard that you would be occupied this afternoon."

The mother's face broke into a smile, and she nodded, gesturing to the koto. "Yes, I do have practice with my ensemble today. I would be very grateful if you took care of him for today."

And with that, they informed the excitable boy, who attempted to stay in character—he was playing council elder, his mother said, waving her hand humbly at Yosuke. "Are we going to depart?"

Sakura picked up Yosuke, who squealed in happiness, all thoughts of being majestic and proper forgotten. "Of course, Oji-chan, little prince!"

* * *

Walking through the streets with a forever wiggling boy and trying to maintain a hold on Neji's hand was near impossible. They navigated the streets carefully, Sakura stopping at vendors from time to time to grab a bite for Yosuke, who struggled to get out of Sakura's iron grip.

"Now, now, stay still. You don't want to be running around on your own, so I'll carry you, okay Yosuke-chan?"

He was a patient little seven year old, and hadn't been carried for a long time. But he accepted it like he thought a tolerant council elder might. "I understand, Onee-sama, esteemed older sister."

"The kimono shop is way off in the outskirts of town. Can you teleport with the child?"

Sakura shook her head. "Take him, he might travel better with you because your lineage is the same; your chakra will also have similarities, albeit Yosuke-chan having very little chakra anyway."

They appeared in a poof of smoke outside of the kimono seller's shop. Inside, the walls were covered in rows upon rows of cedar drawers, each containing precious kimono worth hundreds of thousands. The only one with the key to every shelf was the shop owner, who had them sealed in a great register openable by a secret jutsu complicated enough that only the old man would be able to perform it.

Yuuma looked up from his workroom in the bowels of the shop. "Come in, please. I'm at the back of the shop, doing a bit of needlework."

The trio stepped carefully into the narrow hallway leading to the workroom. "Don't be shy, I haven't got any secrets to hide, you hear? Get in here already!"

Neji and Sakura glanced amusedly at each other before bowing their way into the room, Yosuke's head pushed up and down by Sakura's hand. "Yuuma-san, we would like to view the wedding kimono that we had planned on purchasing from you."

The old man cast off his spectacles and peered at Neji. "Ah, Hyuuga household, was it? Hmm, I remember it being drawer 046…just put the stitches on that one, I did…"

He fussed with the great keyring at his hip and withdrew one of ten identical silver keys. "I was working on it last night, so it's on my keyring this morning, yes it is. Follow me, will you? And boy, don't be touching that basket of needles or your hand'll look like a porcupine, it will."

Yosuke retracted his hand sharply, paling, and moved to hide behind Sakura. "Yes sir!"

His chubby face stared around the doorframe as Sakura and Neji admired their wedding kimono. Neji had his arm around Sakura's shoulders as she bent to smooth her hands over the collar. The men's traditional kimono was simpler than the women's kimono, but Neji had to hand it to the guy for managing to get an attractive stripe to the otherwise normal gi and hakama.

Sakura was almost overwhelmed by the complexity of her kimonos. The traditional dress was completely white with designs that would shine in different angles of light covering it. This was accompanied by a headpiece that they were to match to the kimono later. But it was the uchikake, the overcoat that she would wear during the wedding reception that was breathtaking. It was even better than the kimono she owned.

Neji looked on the uchikake with a keen eye. The crimson red was for luck and was completely covered in designs. Pheasants were painted and stitched in gold and their beaks were hidden among the explosion of silver-gold peonies and chrysanthemums blooming in every corner of the cloth. The plum blossoms, signifying purity, were artfully placed on the sleeves and about the pheasants and deep purples and greens colored the traditional hexagonal Japanese patterns that balanced out the flora and fauna.

It was a great uchikake, but, Sakura thought soberly, it was for a one-hundred percent fake marriage. Too bad, she sighed, wondering what her future wedding uchikake would be like.

* * *

Sakura and Neji were sitting closely on the cushions provided for them while Yosuke excitedly bounced from kimono to kimono as Yuuma laid out the second-hand kimono for the boy to play with.

"Ha! Bow down to the awe-inspiring power of one Hyuuga Yosuke! I will bring shame upon even your dead ancestors, you tortoise!" Yosuke was pointing at an imaginary adversary in the left corner, proclaiming revenge loudly.

"You think we'll have a son like that, Sakura?" Neji leaned down to kiss her on the corner of the mouth.

She giggled appropriately, catching on, simpering, "Neji!" But she twirled the lapel of his shirt in her index finger, pulling him closer. "We'll have three to keep us occupied."

They were really putting their all into the display, when Yosuke pointed his finger at them. "Excuse me! This Hyuuga does not approve of public displays of…of…mutual affection!"

Sakura laughed, springing up from her seat to grab Yosuke, tickling him to the cushion. "I think not, brave warrior!"

* * *

They were exhausted mentally by the time they staggered back into the Hyuuga compound at around eight in the evening. They had slowly ate a mish mash dinner by way of street vendors on the way home, not trusting themselves to teleport properly with a wiggling kid in tow.

"Tadaima, Okaa-san, Mother!" Yosuke bounded into the door, greeting Iwako.

"Okaerinasai, welcome home, Yosuke." The pair waved good bye to the two tired ninja, and they too trudged off to their rooms.

"Neji…" Sakura yawned, stretching. "I think perhaps we should shower or something before getting into the newly laundered futon."

Neji shrugged. "My futon is not yet laundered, so I do not care." The meaning implied was obvious. Sakura sighed…the matchmaking skills of these Hyuugas.

"Alright, but I get to be on the left."

"Why the left side, Haruno?"

She grinned. "If someone comes in, you get killed first!" Neji sweat dropped.

Sakura retreated to her room to change into sleepwear. Neji too, slipped out of the thicker silk shirt and pants and donned more breathable fabrics. Looking up from his leg bandages, Neji saw Sakura approach from her room. Peeling off the last of the bandages, he joined her on the futon.

"You first," Neji murmured, lifting back the covers. He slipped in beside her and carefully assumed what he read was a typical sleeping position for involved couples.

Sakura was already hovering in between the realms of sleep and reality, but shifted back to allow Neji's larger frame to spoon hers.

"Oyasumi nasai. Good night."

* * *

Faithful readers and reviewers, please inform me whether you would rather:

-Longer chapters (like the first one) and slower updates

-Shorter chapters (like this or shorter) and faster updates.


	3. Chapter 3

**More reviewers prefer long chapters. In addition, the past weeks were final week, so excuse me for the delay. I would appreciate those that have put me on story alert to submit criticism on my writing style. Otherwise, enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 3

Neji shifted, or rather, tried to, as he frowned at the lump of blankets on his left. Sakura had evidently awoken in the middle of the night to retrieve more covers, he though hazily. And now, his covers and her covers were trapped under her deadweight. Deciding to be lazy for a change, Neji sat back to really consider the mission he'd been given.

He'd been avoiding this thought for the entire duration of the mission so far, preferring to act his part and forget about the consequences and asking no questions. But he supposed that this was going to have some sort of impact on his pristine records. Firstly, he hadn't really, truly joined in a team training session with Gai, Tenten, and Lee ever since the water canteen incident.

Secondly, he thought, tossing another glance towards the lump of blankets again, this whole debacle was, admittedly, more bearable than he had imagined it when he'd resigned himself to accepting the mission. He'd never really met Sakura formally, and this was equally true for her as well; he could be certain that Sakura didn't stalk him or anything. But they were building trust together in a totally different way than he had with his teammates.

This sort of thing was something they'd both been dumped into, and, like the faithful ninja serving the greater good, they had dedicated themselves wholly to the mission without second thoughts. And in two and a half months, they had done everything in their power to become faster friends than they were with their closest bosom buddies.

He supposed that the relationship he held with Sakura was more of a necessity than something they would be able to continue after the mission. That was two months prior. Now, she knew more about him than his own mother did, though that couldn't be helped because she was dead, he thought solemnly. There wasn't any way to erase the way that he knew all her favorite foods categorized by restaurant and her complicated weekly schedule better than her teammates.

At this time, the blanket monster stirred. There was no morning haze for a ninja, unfortunately, so Sakura didn't even stretch as she rose from the futon and promptly retreated to the back porch to use the wash basin. Neji, too, rose and made to brush out his hair. One run with chakra infused hands and it was done.

Sakura emerged from the back and held out her hand. "Time for morning tea with the old man?"

He scoffed. "You should address him as Hiashi-sama, but yes. Today is a rather important day."

She grinned and said, "Should we super scrub your forehead? I can totally do that for you."

* * *

"Ohayou, good morning. Please, sit."

Hiashi had a different tea for Neji this morning. It was colorless like water, but the odor was sweeter than jasmine flowers. Sakura sipped happily from her normal looking rosewater tea imported from the east, while Neji stared quizzically at his own strange looking tea.

Sakura spoke up, breaking the quiet of the zen atmosphere. "Don't worry, Neji, it's just to prepare your body for the removal of the cursed seal. It'll clean out your intestines and kidney and whatever, so I suggest you drink it while you're on the toilet."

Hiashi sniffed at this crude wording, but nodded. "I would also suggest that. We'll see you in the underground interrogation unit in ten minutes, Neji."

He nodded and padded off to swallow this suspicious looking concoction.

* * *

"Okay Neji, I will be standing in the circle with you as your assigned medic nin. If anything goes wrong, I'll be the first one to make contact with you and respond. The chains are there so that you stay in the circle. Hiashi-sama?"

"Haruno Sakura, you are hereby trusted with the wellbeing of Hyuuga Neji. Elders of the council. Hyuuga clan council members. Are we prepared?"

There was a ripple as the elders nodded in consent. Each was on the perimeter of the sealing circle, preparing to perform the joint seal removal. Sakura stood one foot from Neji, who was calm as ever. His luminescent eyes shined green in the glow of the circle maintained by the elders. The room was completely dark, and the only movement was Hiashi jumping into his place on the circle.

The long chain of seals commenced. A low hum emanated from the circle, growing louder and louder in a gradual crescendo. Neji's eyes closed and he inhaled from where he sat on the stone floor.

Then, the last seal was performed. "Kai!"

Neji felt piercing pain. Something, somewhere, was being ripped from him—it seemed to be trying to drag his physical body with it, but he clenched his fists tight, making no sounds. It seemed like an eternity. His organs seemed to rebel against him, his skin crawling with the effort of concentration. Sweat poured from his pores, and he passed out on the floor, slumping against the stone.

Sakura looked on stoically without making a move, her brain running in circles. Vital signs, skin color, dilation of pupils, muscle spasms…the lists of symptoms were a mantra as she observed her patient.

The green glow died down, the circle disappearing into the ground. The room was completely dark, until the overhead bulb was flicked on. The elders looked on expectantly on the Hyuuga in the center of the room. Sakura stepped back respectfully to allow Hiashi forward, who brushed back his nephew's hair.

His forehead was clear. It had been a success. The elders all nodded, impressed with the success, and one by one, were bowed out by Sakura. Last to leave was Hiashi. He motioned to the prostrate form of the Hyuuga. "Take him home. I recommend you clear his schedule and force him to sleep for the day."

Sakura nodded and hoisted Neji onto her back, hung over her right shoulder like a sack. "Got it, Hiashi-sama."

Teleporting back to the Hyuuga compound, she lowered his body carefully to the futon. He was completely knocked out, vulnerable to attack. For this reason, the date of the seal removal had been kept largely random and was completely secret. There was a lot Neji didn't know about the removal of his seal.

Firstly, Sakura thought, checking the compartment hidden under her futon, the elders had all been required to be present for such a groundbreaking operation. It was the first Hyuuga in the history of Konohagakure to be relieved of the cursed seal. It was almost a breach of tradition, but highly necessary, protested Hiashi. Sakura had, as Hiashi's personal medic, been long informed of the role she would play in this.

There was food for seven days hidden in her compartment. Sakura would seal herself in this room with Neji for as long as it took for him to regain consciousness. This measure was taken in the hopes that the personal medic would be able to ensure the safety of the subject being treated. If there was going to be an assassination attempt, it would be now.

Sitting back on her heels and opening a large medical textbook, Sakura decided that the chances of this sort of security being breached little to none. However, Sakura hoped Neji would wake up sometime before a week was up because of the food situation as well as the fact that they had to be married and leave Konoha as soon as possible.

Yawning, she put down the textbook and began the first of many hourly health exams. She felt a bit like she was violating Neji's privacy as her chakra-infused hands hovered over his ribs, but it was required. She was surprised at the number of random fractures that he never let her check in his bones and tsked. As efficient and healthy he tried to be, there were some things that required professional help to overcome.

* * *

Sakura hated cursed seals. At four in the morning, she was snapped awake by the fluctuating chakra of her companion. Grumbling, she staggered to his side. The removal of something that had gradually become intertwined and part of his chakra flow was doing stupid things to his physical body as well as his chakra.

Putting a firm hand to his head, she diagnosed the problem. Hiccupping chakra. Of course, she thought, irritated. This happened at all hours of the day, where it was like a sucking on a straw but air bubbles getting in. She forced some more medicine into his system, knitted the chinks closed with her surgical chakra, and collapsed back into the makeshift futon she'd dragged by his for the purpose of easy access.

It was day four of this torture: cooped up with no one but the unconscious Hyuuga to talk to and only her medical texts and limited room for kata practice. She was munching on taiyaki sweets as a reward for figuring out how to mold water into shapes with her chakra. In these four days she had mastered a few techniques with practice.

Because she couldn't actually exercise, she ran in place, did wall jumps; all these simple things in huge quantities to make up for not sparring. She had already done at least 1000 push-ups that day. In the middle of doing flexibility exercises—contortions of the body—she heard him stir. Whipping back into standing position almost too fast, she burst into his room.

"FINALLY! HE IS AWOKEN!"

He groggily sat up, and opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She knelt by him, back into medic nin mode, and hand on his back, tipped distilled water down his parched throat. She realized a bit later that loud noises would more than likely bring on a huge migraine, so she lowered her voice to the bedside-manner murmur. "Neji, you have been incapacitated for upwards of four days. I will be nursing you to health for now: is there anything you want?"

His throat raspy still, sounded a word that was something like, "Tenten…"

Sakura stood up, mortified. Tenten? The bun-haired girl on his team? "Neji, I don't mean to be rude, but you're about to be married to me. Seeing Tenten right now would be one of the worst ideas ever."

Neji collapsed, his arms unable to support his body. Oh, that's right, she remembered. He'd been deprived of food for the better part of five days. "Okay, okay, sorry, I'll see what I can do about getting Tenten to see you as soon as you're well."

She shook her head, looking down at her friend. Of course the first person he asked for was a girl. She would look into matchmaking for the two of them once the mission was over. She felt sort of bad for Tenten, now, seeing things from the girl's perspective. Tenten didn't know a thing about the mission, so the jealousy must be palpable, Sakura thought.

Picking up a serving table from by the wall, Sakura prepared a very light meal. There was no kitchen here, so Sakura had stored mainly instant foods in the underground. She selected instant miso soup and racing through hand seals, filled the bowl with cold water and emptied the block of instant soup in. Taking a deep breath, she tried an extremely simple fire jutsu. Every time she chanced doing fire jutsu in this tatami room, she was chancing burning something in this ancient place.

Thankfully, the miso turned out okay. She presented the sliced daikon, pickled umeboshi, arranged sushi, miso, and sardines to the Hyuuga. He was having trouble sitting up so she dragged a low table over for him to lean on.

"Sakura," his voice was still raspy, "Everything is rolling about…I feel dizzy."

"Oh! Okay, wait just a second, I'll check your head," Sakura said cheerfully.

She relaxed the overfiring of neurons in his brain that was causing him to see doubles and triples instead of one single image. "It's an aftereffect of coming to consciousness after so much darkness. Here, have miso soup: you don't want to look sickly when Tenten comes to visit!"

Sakura grinned, expecting some sort of blush. But instead…

"Tenten? Why would she come to visit me? Does she know I am incapacitated?"

She folded her arms, saying, "Well, you did ask for her when I asked you what you wanted."

"You are too bored in here. I was not referring to Tenten. I was referring to myself feeling dizzy and seeing everything in motion. Tenten."

"OHHHH…I get it." Sakura promptly shut up in fear of embarrassing herself. The word, tenten in Japanese was also the word for rolling about. Which, in Neji's state of haziness, he said to try and convey the fact that he was seeing inanimate objects in motion and "rolling about."

"Okay, cool. That's one problem solved. Now, those sardines…Eat up!"

* * *

It was a day later when the pair was able to view real sunshine again. Neji was stoic as usual, having been unconscious for most of his stay in the prison. On the other hand, Sakura was ecstatic, her energy visibly bubbling over into the expressions on her face. She walked quietly along with Neji, who was still not 100%, but good enough to make a walk to the hospital to go to a "physical" administered by Sakura herself. Of course, this physical was an excuse to let Sakura have access to real equipment to give Neji the necessary supplements for him to recover.

"You should be up and at 'em within two hours of the hospital visit. I'm surprised you've recovered so well, actually! The tenacity of the ninja body is amazing; I've always wanted to do a comparison on civilian and ninja bodies, but that would require—"

Neji stopped short in the middle of the road. Turning to her, he said, "Sakura. Thank you."

Sakura beamed, even happier now, having earned the respect of a senior ANBU member. "Don't mention it! Anyway, like I was saying…"

And they chatted, soaking in the sun and getting closer as friends. Neji found that it was like he was exposed in some way. Everything he did, everything he thought, seemed to be completely transparent to this medic nin, whose job was centered around close observation and analyzing those observations. He, on the other hand, seemed to have trouble seeing through her actions.

* * *

Just like Sakura had said, it was only two hours later that he was sparring and doing target practice with her confidently, beginning to be able to hit the targets blind. As always, Sakura was amazed at his accuracy.

"How can you do that, even when the targets are changing position from each round of throwing? I can do it blindfolded, but if you change the position and then put me in, I couldn't even hit the grass in front!"

Neji closed his eyes again, saying, "Closing one sense opens all the others. I can hear the breeze separating around the targets, which allows me to find their new positions. If there was minimal to no movement of wind or air, I would be as you are, completely confused."

Sakura nodded, saying, "Okay, that sounds like it works." She closed her eyes too, and successfully used the trick that Neji had taught her on the first try. He nodded his approval, and they both packed up for the day, heading back home. Tomorrow was the wedding, after all.

* * *

Sakura and Neji were simultaneously awoken by an approaching signature. From the looks of it, it was some random maid. Sakura looked up in horror. She was still in her own futon. In the hubbub after training yesterday, they had just gone to their own beds. She scrambled up from her futon, trying to smooth out her blankets and remove all her body heat from the sheets. Tripping into Neji's futon, she had just assumed a sleeping position by his equally panicked heart when the shouji door slid open with a "snick."

"Haruno-sama, Hyuuga-sama, please wake up!" She was a cheery lady, plump and red-cheeked. She exited the room, allowing them to get ready on their own.

Sakura fell back, trying to still her beating heart. "That was close. Very close." She turned to him. "Give me a morning kiss you loser…they're watching."

Neji grumbled into his pillow. "This is ridiculous. Sometimes I do not like living in the company of other Hyuugas."

Seeing no move from Neji, Sakura reluctantly pushed him over and aggressively kissed him, before getting up to fix her appearance. For some reason, this morning was very bad, very bad indeed. They were both, for unexplainable reasons, irritated.

* * *

She scrubbed herself down extra carefully today because of the expensive silk that she would be wearing for the wedding ceremony and the brocade she would don during the reception, the uchikake. Her mood was like a dark raincloud, sullen and prone to sudden bursts of thunder and lightning, but she followed the maids and hairdressers about willingly, reining in her temper.

"Haruno-sama, tip your head back, please." The hairdresser was trying to do something with her choppy hair. Sakura had never quite felt awkward about her boyish cut. She'd always preened in front of the mirror with it and took very good care of it, like any self-conscious girl did, but she'd never really thought about how boyish the cut was.

She sighed, more put down than snappish now. She could hear the murmurs of the hairdressers, who she knew were being polite. It would have been easy to shut out the voices, but she let herself hear it anyway.

"Dear, dear, dear, what can we do, Nana-san? It's just…"

"I know. I know. There has never been a situation like this. It is very rare to dress hair traditionally for a head with such short hair. I'm afraid…"

"I suppose we can't be very orthodox, then, can we? There isn't enough to make a ponytail, let alone a topknot. I cannot just gather her hair at the nape like a common mendicant monk!"

"Ruka-san! That is very rude. We'll use wax. Much of it. The wedding head covering will disguise the hair."

Sakura pretended to be dozing when they turned back to her. She was tapped on the shoulder and she put on the show of blinking herself awake. Sakura, for the first time, felt self-conscious about the style of her hair. It had been a long time since she'd thought about that. She looked up at the stylists. "What's going on?"

The hairdressers gave polite smiles, and bowed apologetically. "We will be doing something different with your hair, Haruno-sama."

They had a bowl of wax heating over a little fire on the floor. An assistant lifted the hot bowl with a pair of mittens and the stylists went to work with combs. The wax covered combs kept her hair the way it was, and they simply combed all her hair up to a tuft at the back of her head. Even the shorter hairs were in place because of the solidifying wax and Sakura grimaced as she withstood the incredible pain of the pulling from all sides of her head by the combs.

Soon, she looked a bit bald, the hair was combed so flat. The hairdressers patted the hair, and once they were sure it was dry and hardened, placed the head piece on her. The experiment was a success and one couldn't tell she had short hair. However, Sakura only thought more about her choppy hair, thinking about the long dark-brown hair of the Hyuuga clan. Perhaps she would grow it out, she mused as she was led down to the kimono cellar.

* * *

Neji was in a different area of the house. His hair wasn't any problem; it was as it was usually, and he was sitting in his kimono, chatting with his uncle and Hinata. All were decked in their kimono already, and were calmly sipping tea. The wedding was taking place in the adjacent room. Hiashi stood, and cued Hinata and Neji to go to the room with him. It was time.

* * *

Neji was still irritated as he was led down with Sakura to the priest. The old man in white murmured some words over them and the room of important people sat solemnly. Neji wouldn't even look at her. There was a palpable, but invisible wall in between them and he didn't care to breach it.

The priest finished, and Neji approached the incense and shrine first, bowing three times and offering a stick of incense to his ancestors each time. Then, Sakura went, her kimono shimmering as she shuffled forward to bow three times. The newlyweds turned to the room and bowed some more, and it was done.

The congratulations was a solemn affair, and the room was filled with a low buzz as the guests exchanged conversation and the newlyweds traveled the room together, as was custom. Sakura and Neji, Hiashi noted, did not seem very in sync, and the wedding reception was sure to be a nightmare for the disgruntled pair. But, ninjas do what they have to do.

As Hiashi loaded them into the covered carriage and tucked Sakura's skirts past the carriage door for her, he threw out, "I suggest the pair of you take this thirty minute ride through the village to sort out your differences and put out a good face for the village."

And with that, Hiashi was gone, shutting the door.

The carriage jolted, and the pair stared each other down stonily. Sakura broke the silence. "Neji, what's wrong today."

He scoffed, leaning back in his cushions. "I cannot pin blame on anything. It seems you are the unhappy one."

Sakura bristled, sitting up in her seat. "I'm annoyed because YOU didn't remind me to sleep in your futon and I had to trip into your room and fix the mess on my own in the morning. You didn't move a muscle!"

Neji turned away, glaring out the window. "None of this is my fault. You collapsed in your own futon instead of in mine. What was I to do at that hour? Drag you into mine and risk death?"

Sakura gaped, pointing at him angrily, continuing, "Death? DEATH? I wouldn't have killed you, that's counterproductive! You need to be alive for this to work out! I would have just complied. You should have at least made an effort to run to my room in the morning. But no, you just slept there like a king while I had to rush around to fix it."

Neji frowned, saying, "Is that all? The morning incident?"

There was silence. Sakura sighed, wanting to bury her head in her arms. Unfortunately, she was swamped with more expensive silk that she knew what to do with. "I can't even give a real tantrum…this is actually pretty stupid."

Neji hmmed, crossing his arms with a rustle and closing his eyes. "There is little to apologize for, in both our cases. We were both tired last night, and the morning incident has had no effect on the mission."

Sakura shook her head, not properly calmed yet. She wished she could hug Ino so bad at the moment…There was no reason for her to be freaking out about something as inconsequential as getting out of her futon and going to Neji's. She shivered. It must be the wedding jitters or something. Were these signs telling them not to be married? Sakura tipped her head back, letting out a garbled sigh.

They sat, the atmosphere charged and silent. What a wedding this was turning out to be.

* * *

Neji and Sakura emerged from the carriage to cheers as they greeted what appeared to be the entirety of the hospital staff, all their shinobi friends (the rookie nine, ANBU collegues, various Interrogation members, guards, pub owners, and others included), all of Sakura's civilian side of the family and friends, the Hyuuga clan members, and Academy teachers.

They smiled congenially, hands linked, hearts cold. Despite Neji dismissing the matter, it was still fresh in their minds, and they made the rounds with the guests as fast as they could manage it. The pile of wedding gifts on the table increased as the day dragged on. Sakura and Neji stood beneath the shade of the orchard trees where their reception was held at high noon, ready to bid adieu to the last of the guests.

When the final well-wishers had departed, Sakura and Neji trudged slowly to the carriage again. A new carriage awaited them. It was very long, but narrow, and a screen was in the middle. A maid was in each side, helping them undress on the journey home. Sakura thanked Hiashi and the kami-sama, the gods above, for thinking of their comfort.

The evening meal was silent. Neji and Sakura were relocated to a room meant for married couples and they shared the meal provided stonily. Very soon, the two ninja would embark on the other part of their mission. The most important part. They would be starting a new life as civilians that wanted to start a business selling antique weaponry, casting off their former life as ninjas. At the same time, they would be entering the acquaintance of the esteemed East Fire country daimyo. The filthy cheat, Sakura thought, snatching up an innocent slice of raw salmon.

It was Neji who, again, broke the silence. "I…do not understand the problem that still exists here."

Sakura looked up in surprise. "It's been a while, I guess. It's just…." Sakura sighed, the air leaving her feeling mature and suddenly hit with the severity of the mission. Only twenty-something and they were both already doing a dangerous combination of recon, espionage, and identity swapping.

Neji nodded in understanding. "It needs to be said. As ninja, I sympathize with the difficulty of being open, but for the sake of living through the mission, we must put trust in each other."

Sakura was being endlessly surprised tonight, and she didn't like it all that much. Her and Neji having some sort of girlfriend heart-to-heart variation? She shook her head, but went on, "Yes. I think putting on this good of a façade for our friends has truly been taxing. Have we really become friends before lovers? I mean, we completely skipped the friendship part in the desperate attempt to suddenly be engaged. I just…didn't imagine all my firsts to be like this, I guess."

Neji scoffed at this. "You are too complicated. I thought nothing of what you call 'firsts.' I am merely tired of acting. It may suit us better to become friends. You know of the might of the forces we face now."

Sakura shook her head, grinning. "So we're okay, now?"

"It all depends on what we tell ourselves to think."

* * *

That night, the ninja packed their bags and made their last in-person report to the Godaime.

"Hyuuga and Hyuuga." Tsunade's face was grim as she addressed Sakura with the new title. "I expect you all to make a report within the next two days. After that, we're looking for a report once a week or more on your progress, preferably before I check the cabinets. You'll have to do a bit of cleaning on your own, but the Hyuuga mansion is ready for their new owners. Travel fast, travel efficient."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama!"

And they were escorted out, their Konoha headbands left in the care of the Godaime. With a wave to Kotetsu, who was doing guard duty at the East gate that night, Sakura and Neji flash-stepped in unison towards the tree line, flitting from shadow to shadow like crows flying in the night.

It was silent as they assumed their roles. Neji covered the long distance areas and Sakura focused on the immediate area as they traveled as a unit. They would be headed far east into the domain of the daimyo. The guy was obviously trying to stay as much out of Konohagakure's control as possible, Sakura thought, annoyed.

With nonstop running, the pair would make it to their new location around sunrise. Slowly, the trees began to thin about them, the oaks and sequoias lessening and more maples and fruit trees becoming prevalent in the landscape. There was much more shrubbery and Neji took account of the road that twisted 300 feet before them. Two dashes and they were there.

"Neji, do you think we should start traveling by foot?" Sakura's voice was very quiet.

The ninja dropped to the ground in reply. Sakura leapt to his right to cover his blind spot. Speaking of the blind spot, not many besides the Hyuuga knew of the blind spot. But due to hours of training and careful observation, Sakura had been able to at least guess that there was something Neji was compensating for. Something around his upper back. She couldn't say exactly where it was or why it was there, but he had a blind spot and she could only guess that it was related to his Byakugan. Grimacing, she kept walking. They were only guesses, after all.

The town lights began to make themselves known in the dark. The two walked leisurely, taking precaution to reduce their chakra emissions a bit. Any ordinary citizen would be talking, but they were ninja. Neji had indicated with his silence that he did not want any interruptions on the way to the mansion and Sakura had no problem with following along.

A little later than they had previously predicted, they were finally making their way down the road into the more countryside like area to the mansion gates. They were huge, but Sakura and Neji easily overcame the gates. It was safe to talk now. "The Godaime has her own protective jutsu being maintained here, as well as a few guards for the first week. We will have to figure out a defense stratagem before her protection is withdrawn that will not be obvious to a civilian but strong enough to warn us and allow us escape."

Sakura nodded seriously and slipped into an upper story window after Neji. The house was silent. Not eerily so, but silent, cold, and empty. There were no furnishings and the persons hired to clean it were not extremely thorough. "This place…is not habitable yet. It's too dark to really scope out the scene." She turned back to the window. "We'll sleep hidden on the roof until there is more movement from civilians around town and then figure out something for the house."

It wasn't actually too bad of a house, Sakura thought. The problems they would encounter with the house upkeep and the reputation buildup however…Sakura just lay back on the roof tile, balancing her pack on her stomach to try and put those thoughts aside.

* * *

The pair was still tired, but sat in the empty parlor together as the morning light shone through a slit in the door. "Neji, let's set some traps and have some rest in the master bedroom."

They had already scoured the entire house from attic beams to underground kitchen cellars. It was boring, nerve-wracking work, but they were finally free to take their first nap in twenty hours. "Hm. Meet by the main banister in fifteen minutes. I'll cover the back and left sides."

Sakura set a series of juvenile traps near the entrances before setting the big boys at the perimeters. Those would warn them, the inhabitants, of presences to let them escape, while the entrance ones would trip the intruders up on their way in. There were already genjutsu traps for the windows. Neji was waiting for her at the main banister.

"When I was in the kitchen, I noted that there was also running water. We can take a bath!" Sakura was ecstatic about this, and eagerly walked to what looked like the master bedroom. She noted that this house was incredibly westernized in some places, like the kitchens and the rooms, but very traditional in the personal areas, like the baths.

Neji began to unpack his things and hide his emergency weaponry. He figured out their possible escape routes, and within minutes, Sakura was out of the shower, wrapped in a towel. He already had his bath slippers on and went in after her, looking away from her direction. Ah, well, Sakura thought. Nothing to imagine for Neji, as she had already bathed him a couple times during his little curse seal removal stint.

Sakura settled in the side, again, farthest from the door, and promised herself to stay up for Neji so they could talk before their random early morning nap, but had already slipped into dreamworld before he had even reached the bathroom doorknob.

Neji dressed in sleepwear and slipped in besides Sakura, slipping her comfortably in the spaces and crooks of his own body. Alone in the middle of some random village with no Konoha headband to identify them, no occupation to describe them, really, and no real homely place as of yet…he felt immensely lonely for the first time. His only reminder of Konoha lay here, and he was glad he had a partner in this crazy mission for the first time. With that thought, he, too, allowed himself to go to sleep.

* * *

It was late afternoon when Sakura and Neji had finally gotten out of the bed. There was still many things to be done, not all of it just cleaning the house.

"Neji, we have to register ourselves with the daimyo within the next two weeks."

Sakura was hurriedly flipping through a large book of regulations that she had picked up from the magistrate's office that day. Neji was upside down, catching water in a bucket as he rinsed the chandelier with a basic water jutsu. "What else is on the schedule?"

"Hmm…we might as well register to take the test for the license that allows us to possess weaponry with blades longer than 36 inches."

Neji dropped the water bucket, deftly catching it in midair before landing on the ground with it, not a drop of water spilled. Setting it down in at the foot of the stairs, he sat down on the plush carpeted stairs next to her. "There are regulations about that?"

Sakura shook her head, the corner of her mouth quirking. "It's a civilian thing, Neji."

He shot a look at her. "A 'civilian thing,' you say?"

"Yes, Neji. It's unfortunate, but many Konohagakure ninja are blessedly ignorant of their fellow civilians. As civilians, we are not allowed to do a lot of things. Including possessing weapons with blades over thirty-six inches long. Going along with that line of thought, we should also apply to join the weapons guild…without membership, we won't be doing any antique dealing."

She looked over at Neji, who was already tuning her out. "Alright, I'll take care of the administrative stuff. I'll get the forms and papers today and once we sign everything, I'll post it in the mail or deliver it in person."

Poor Neji, she thought, being thrust into civilian society so suddenly. He had been occupying himself with the house renovation and cleaning effort to avoid having to interact with civilians. Fortunately, Sakura had plenty of childhood experience with the workings of civilian life and was now, grudgingly, setting out to get paperwork for their livelihood.

Deciding to walk to the town at a leisurely pace, Sakura climbed the stairs to change clothing, noting the silence of the plush carpeting. They would probably have to find a way to strip the stairs bare and make certain steps creak on purpose to ward off intruders.  
It was already the height of the summer, so Sakura put on an unassuming off-white sundress and some tan sandals. As an afterthought, she grabbed the straw hat that Teuchi-san at the ramen shop had bequeathed her as a wedding gift. Made from the best reed that money can buy, he had claimed, patting its crown as he handed it to her happily.

"I'm going!" Neji didn't look up from the kitchen counter. "Got it."

* * *

People in the town looked at her curiously, the children pointing in wonder at her hair, which gathered at her nape under the sunhat. They didn't approach her, though, politely returning to their business as usual. Sakura passed a bustling pub on her way towards the magistrate's office and noted the surroundings and the bartender with a quick glance to her left.

After reemerging from the office with a load of paperwork for all the things that would make them legitimate citizens and such of this little place, Sakura headed into the heart of the pub to familiarize herself with the people in it. After all, this was her area of social expertise, she thought, grinning at the thought of Tsunade's sake stashes.

Striding in confidently, sunhat in her bag, she slid onto a barstool. The bartender looked over at her and asked, "What do you wanna drink?"

"Beer please." She opened the forms and began to peruse the pages even as her eyes wandered elsewhere, taking in the old clock, the stairs tucked into the back of the pub, and the dirty glass windows.

The bartender set down a napkin before sliding the glass towards her. "What brings you here today? You don't look local."

Sakura let out a melodramatic sigh. "Things at the new house are just terrible. My husband and I are newlyweds and we left our hometown to avoid prejudice, but I don't think he is adjusting well."

The bartender, seeing an interesting story, sat down on his own stool on the other side of the counter, and said, "New house, huh? I guess we'll be meeting you all later in town, right?"

"Ha, if he would only go out." Swirling the drink with gusto, Sakura continued with the story, "I would never regret what we've done, but, I guess it'll take time. We want to get into dealing antiques because I've got some old stuff I want looked at from my grandparents."

"That's the spirit, kid! You know what, they're having some sort of exhibition for antiques down at the auction house and gallery sometime in this month. I bet you can get some professionals' opinions, eh?"

Sakura quirked the corner of her mouth. Bingo! She glanced at her watch. "Thanks for the advice, uh…"

"Tomoshibi Mura—I've been bartending since I was just a little kid."

"Mura-san, then. I'll see you around." With that, Sakura slid off the barstool and stepped out of the pub, the day's goal achieved rather quickly. She continued walking through the town, ,stopping at the dango vendor to pick up some semblance of a dinner for Neji. Balancing the packages in one hand, she whipped out the sunhat and set out on an ungodly pace towards the mansion.

Focusing her line of vision on the mansion, Sakura could see Neji washing windows on the third floor. Mood lifted, she raced towards the mansion. Leaping up the stairs, Sakura met Neji in the hallway, who was on his way to greet her, having felt her approaching chakra signature.

Sakura beamed up at him and presented the dinner. "Here! I brought some food back for you!"

Neji looked amusedly at her wild appearance. Her sundress helped tone down the look, but her hair looked very windswept. "And is there any other news?"

Sakura grinned wider. "Exactly. We'll talk about that later tonight. For now, shower or something and we can have a bit of dinner in the dining room."

"The what?"

Sakura grumbled, the moment lost. "The one with the huge mahogany display cabinet…"

* * *

Neji had to admit that he was running out of things to do in the house. It was quite obvious to Sakura that he was purposefully avoiding going out to mingle with civilians, but still…someone had to renovate the house, right? His thoughts were halted by the entrance of Sakura, who was dressed in more comfortable silk shirts (from his house, he noted smugly). They dug into the food.

"Neji, how about we take a walk tonight?" She was tracing a circle in the tablecloth. Neji took the hint.

"Of course."

Sakura sat down with Neji, signing documents as they waited for nightfall. Suddenly, there was a knock, followed by the doorbell. Neji looked up in confusion. "Shh! It's the doorbell." Sakura motioned to Neji. "You have to get it. I'll come in after you."

Neji nodded and quickly made his way towards the front door. He opened it. Sakura, on cue, padded over from the back and laced her arm through his. "What is your business?" His tone was unyieldingly cold.

The nervous man at the door bowed politely. "Hyuuga-san and Hyuuga-san, I have mail for you. This house has no mailbox, so I am compelled to deliver it in person."

Sakura smiled indulgingly at the man. "Of course. Thank you." She rubbed Neji's arm in a comforting manner and waved as the mailman walked quickly away. After they closed the door, Sakura hissed at Neji.

"You've got to be more nice! We don't live in Konoha anymore."

Neji frowned. "I could taste the lies, they were so obvious."

"I _know_, but that's no reason to be that obvious about your apparent distaste." She grinned, petting his arm again mockingly. He harrumphed, twisting out of her grasp. "Sometimes I cannot tell if you are crazy or acting."

She laughed and said, "Put the mail in the drawer so we can go on that walk!"

* * *

They slipped out, dressed in ninja gear. They were going to do recon on the daimyo's properties. There would be guards—both normal and mercenary ninja. In this sort of civilian town organization, the daimyo's dwelling wasn't far off. Set in a huge community of large, old mansions, Sakura and Neji reached it in no time.

They looked at the strange house confusedly. Clan compounds, like Neji's family, were typically built on flat grounds with very little open ground and mazelike passages. These great houses were built on huge expanses of rolling hills and extremely westernized three story houses with large bay windows. This guy was, notably, one of the only strange houses in the area. The other households were more traditional with lavish Japanese gardens and walled gates.

"This house is easily penetrable for attack." He touched the old stone walls of the gate.

Sakura shook her head. "With an important figure like that, he couldn't be living without protection. Just look at the golden pheasants. Those aren't normal pheasants."

Neji narrowed his eyes. "I don't see any pheasants."

Sakura looked over at him. "What you do mean, Hyuuga-san?"

At that, Neji started. Sakura didn't call him that anymore. He calmly continued. "They must be well hidden then."

As soon as Sakura turned about, he sunk a kunai into her back. With a poof, she was gone. The scene around him changed like melting chocolate. His smell came back first—the smell of dirt and the night air. Then, his touch. The hard branches of a tree? He was strapped into a tree! Then, his hearing. He could hear everything full blast—Sakura's battle cries, the connection of blade to blade. Finally, his sight. Looking down, he could see her overwhelmed by over ten mercenaries.

Silently scrambling out of his confines, Neji realized that Sakura had seen him slump after touching the wall and succumbing to the genjutsu before throwing him into the tree to face the oncoming attackers. He couldn't see her pink hair at all—her entire form was covered with black, her face mask black as night as well.

Face twisting into a grimace, he withdrew a couple of senbon. From the tree, he took down attackers one by one in a series of throws. The leader had only just realized the source of the senbon when Sakura ended his life with a slice to his brain stem.

Neji made to drop out of the tree, but Sakura flashstepped up to him. She put her hand on his right arm. Its fine, she was conveying. Finger to what he assumed was her lips, she asked them both to be silent. This meant chakra as well.

Within moments, pattering footsteps greeted them. Sakura held up the senbon silently. She had collected all their own weaponry while reaffirming all the deaths. The new ninja didn't suspect a thing as they hauled away their colleagues and the leader of that group determined the perpetrators long gone.

With that, they exited silently from the tree and sprinted towards their own mansion.

* * *

I am leaving for Japan tomorrow and will not be back for another month and a half. Please look forward to the next chapter, and thank you for your support all this time!


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you for your continued support, as sparse as my response has been. I hope that those that have followed me, again, find time to give some constructive criticism on my writing style or character development. Also, anything I say about kata or training exercises is not grounded in any school of martial arts. I sort of made it up, if you will. Enjoy!**

Chapter 4

Neji was silent on the short trip back. His brows furrowed, he felt a mix of shame and anger—how could he have let down his guard like that? Touching that wall—a rookie mistake, one that he should have been able to spot with his Byakugan; one that Sakura had spotted, thankfully, or they would be in more trouble than they knew what to do with.

Slipping through the upper-story window as always, the two parted ways; Sakura went to take a shower and Neji padded down the stairs stiffly to clear the dining room table. He stacked the ceramic plates that had been gifted to them by Chouji before they left: "You've got to have something cool to eat my secret barbeque recipe on!" he had said, patting Neji on the back as he presented the scroll to him proudly, "Use it during the summer—that's the best time." His eyes traced the minimalistic sunflower designs repeatedly as he attempted to calm his nerves.

Methodically, he put away the leftovers in plastic containers for later and scraped the serving dishes clean. While he had never really done much dish-washing in his lifetime, he wasn't completely helpless. Neji thought of using chakra to help the process, but he was so unnerved by his failure in genjutsu that he resorted to the traditional scrubbing and drying methods. Unfortunately, it went by faster than he had thought, and pretty soon, the only place for him to organize his thoughts was the shower.

Sakura had already stepped out, leaving a room full of steam. Neji laid out a fresh yukata and towel and tried to let his failure steep into the gurgling drain below.

Sakura gave a sideways look at the shower door from their chosen bedroom space. The house was still pretty bare and dusty but they couldn't really remedy that until the supplies they had ordered civilian-style had arrived by post.

Refocusing again, Sakura pinpointed the source of the slow-wave chakra. Neji was doing some serious meditating in there—his entire chakra system seemed to have slowed down to an almost lethargic chugging along. She wasn't sure what was wrong with him, but it was getting slow enough that Sakura decided to intervene.

"Oi, Neji," she said, pounding a few times on the door, "Snap out of it, 'cause it's been about thirty minutes now." She chortled to herself, adding, "Even I don't shower that long!"

Sakura "watched" with her chakra, amazed, as Neji's system revved back up to life. It was always fascinating to see how his body and chakra networks worked because it was all so consistent and well-trained. The flow sped up slowly, mesmerizingly so, as Sakura "saw" Neji straighten up in the shower and move to turn off the water.

His voice sounded from the steamy depths, "I will be out in a moment."

She sniffed and pushed off of the wall, going back into the room. The futon was laid out by the right wall and she sat down to write in the information scroll as she waited for Neji.

* * *

Even before Neji came out, Sakura knew that he still hadn't really gotten anything out of his shower-meditation. He sat down beside her, leaning his back against the wall.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing—let me write in the scroll."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "That's not going to work on me. Besides, I've already written up today's events in the scroll. Seeing as you were knocked out for most of the action, I thought it would be wiser for me to do the writing today."

She could feel him freeze at her words. She prodded further. "Are you concerned about the genjutsu thing?"

He looked forward, ashamed. "I should be able to detect those sorts of things. I endangered the both of us tonight, and I am unsettled with the fact that I underestimated the seemingly unprotected Western house and did not check the walls with Byakugan."

Sakura sighed, scooting closer to him. "Neji, you need to take a chill pill. I noticed and threw you up a tree and solved the problem. Who knew that the walls were rigged? Besides, you need to trust me to take care of problems sometimes. I _am_ the genjutsu expert, after all."

She reached over to his shoulders despite his wooden posture and negative reaction. "Come on, I'll give you a massage—it works for annoying patients in the hospital—not that you're annoying, or anything."

He acquiesced, turning so Sakura could reach his back. "Tell me about something domestic to distract me."

Sakura smiled at his back and began loosening his shoulders with physical strength, leaving the chakra out of it. She found that chakra was a bit invasive for ninja, especially chakra-sensitive ones such as herself and Neji.

"Well, we need to do quite a bit of interior decorating if we even hope to host any sort of party in this decrepit house."

"Hmm…" Neji stretched suddenly, leaning back into her hands. "I think some sort of pale color, a medium, and a stronger hue might do it. Paired colors get cliché easily."

"You think? The dining room will have to stay classic—mahogany and whatnot—but I like the idea of three theme colors. What do you have in mind?"

Neji sighed. "I appreciate the massage, by the way. I would like to do a cream and a purple…perhaps a stronger green-gray."

"That sounds good. Do you want me to put in orders for the drapes we were looking at earlier today in the green for the rooms upstairs?"

Neji stretched one final time and did a half-turn. "Yes, please. I believe we are on the same page with the interior, so I will leave most of the decision-making to you."

Sakura smiled brightly again and draped her arms around his neck, burying her cheek into the cotton of the collar of his yukata. "Okay! As soon as all of the kitchen implements arrive, we can actually settle into this old house."

He hummed and removed her arms from around his shoulders, turning to press a kiss to her upturned cheek. "One kiss a night will keep us focused on our roles, yes?"

Sakura grinned almost devilishly in the moonlight. "Of course—the stupid daimyo won't know what's coming to him when we get there."

* * *

The next day was spent scrubbing out the house's hardwood floors and re-waxing them. Sakura was repainting the walls, using a wind jutsu to evenly coat the surfaces with purples and creams where appropriate. She had read the manuals for civilians and shook her head with pity at them. Thirty-six hours to cure and dry? Yeah, right! She had finished the house and had moved on to install the bathroom implements with her bunshin helping.

It was quite amazing that they got all of it done so quickly, but she would encounter herself and Neji in bunshin form multiple times as she navigated the house and gave orders to her bunshin.

It was time for lunch, so Sakura set out in a cute civilian-style outfit. The yukata was dragonfly patterned and the obi had no flourishes—it was a deep blue and had a fan tucked into the front. She took a large basket and flashstepped to the outskirts of the town. Once there, she shuffled slowly into the bustling marketplace.

"Oh hey there lady!"

The booming baritone was unmistakable. "Mura-san, how nice to see you!"

"Out and about, I see! Where's your husband?"

"Oh, at home taking care of administrative business. I never told you my name—I'm Haruno Sakura, of the Hyuuga house."

The bartender's eyes widened. "_That_ Hyuuga? The ninja clan and all that?"

* * *

Sitting down in a vendor's ramen stand, Sakura sipped delicately at the broth as Mura talked. "I've heard 'a your kind! Man, I didn't know ninja came alla way out here!"

Sakura thought quietly that Mura would be shocked to know how many ninja there really were in the area, but nodded. "Yes. As you know, my name, Haruno—"

"—Is that of the trading tycoon, eh? I thought it seemed familiar."

"Well, as you can see, our romance wasn't very…proper, if you'll allow."

"No! It's still traditional and stereotyped like that?"

Sakura nodded solemnly. "It is. I was once a top-ranked kunoichi in my own right, but my family status simply wasn't comparable in light of Neji's family. So we left."

Mura's eyes crinkled. "In pursuit of young love? Will ya look at that! Even ninja!"

Sakura smiled softly, completing the ruse of an in-love youngster trying to be mature. She finished off the ramen and said, "Thanks for the chat, but I need to shop for some lunch. I'll visit later, hopefully with my husband in tow."

"A'course, see you next time!" Mura stood, lifting the flap for her to duck under.

Soon, Sakura had purchased a few vendor foods and fruits. She couldn't help but buy a few Konoha regional products to remind them of home, and flashstepped her way back to the house.

* * *

She waved at the "annoying mail-person" (as Neji had dubbed him) and closed the gate. Neji had made sure to install the mailbox as a first priority, and had moved on to do quite a bit of home improvement while she had been absent.

"Neji, I've got the lunch!"

He appeared from a doorway, carrying a large number of clocks. Setting them down by the door, Neji sat down at the kitchen counter with Sakura.

"Did anything of importance happen?"

"No, not really. I mean, I met Mura in the market and met a few shop owners that we'll probably get well-acquainted with if we keep shopping, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary."

"Okay. The house is nearly finished, so we may be able to have a house-warming party in the next week. Our neighbors, conveniently, include the East Fire country daimyo, and he would be very impolite to refuse."

"I understand. I'll work on the bedrooms, then."

The house had more bedrooms than they needed, and Sakura outfitted most of them as functioning guest rooms, the largest one as their bedroom (strangely enough, Western houses had only one master bedroom) and a few as, outwardly, storage for kimono and silks, but functioning as weaponry caches.

Shaking out the drapes, Sakura headed down the grand staircase to greet Neji in the kitchen. Jumping down gleefully from the second floor railing, she skipped into the now lighted kitchen.

"You've got the electricity wired up and everything!"

Neji nodded, placing a steaming plate in front of her. "These are the leftovers from yesterday, but they are still palatable."

"There isn't much to do now, since the last few things—the drapes, the refridgerator-thing, the cookware, etcetera—haven't come in yet. I saw a posting for a festival tonight when I was in the village, though."

"Are you suggesting we go?"

Sakura swallowed a bit of fried tofu before linking her arm through Neji's. "Please, I've been in the town over three times already. You haven't even gone once! I swear, the townspeople think you're weird or that we have a really strange marriage. I keep on coming into the town 'alone and unprotected' as the lady at the bakery had proclaimed loudly."

"Really, now. Unprotected, she said?"

Sakura flushed. "Hey, I had to be a bit of a delicate china-girl or this whole romance thing wouldn't be convincing enough. You're supposed to be a Hyuuga, anyway."

"And what does that imply, Haruno?" Neji looked down his aristocratic nose imperially.

"Now you're just playing with me. You know, the whole traditional 'men do the work women sit in the domestic sphere' thing. You know about this stereotype!"

Neji laughed, a sound that made Sakura's lips twitch despite her annoyance. "Then we should find matching yukata and go out before it's too late."

* * *

Dressed in a fancier yukata of a deep forest green with burgundy and orange designs up and down the sides, Sakura emerged from the kimono room. Neji had a more severe moss green yukata on, with little color and black stitching.

Stepping out of the house, they encountered more people than usual traversing the country lane towards the town. The multitudes all had paper fans and the chatter reached their ears easily as they strolled under the deepening colors of the summer sky.

Arms linked, Neji and Sakura surveyed the landscape periodically and debated seriously about the value of ikebana, the art of flower-arranging, in Academy lesson curriculums.

"I mean, really, do boys even need to know about flowers? None of them remember any of it after their second year anyway."

"I believe it is a valuable exposure for the young students to have. It gives them perspective into horticulture and allows them to see the different hobbies that different genders aspire to."

Sakura continued on with her argument, "But, Neji, how many ninja not part of the Aburame clan even remotely get involved with plants and the like? If a kid really wants to get into poisons, as a poison expert, let me tell you, lilies and daisies isn't the way to go about it."

"However, you forget that flowers often serve as valuable methods of communication. I did remember the ikebana information past the second year, for your information. I once used it in a mission to signal a teammate being held capture that 'hope,' or rescue was coming and allow time for him prepare himself for escape. It worked and he was healthy enough to run when we arrived."

"But remember, he had to have known the knowledge. Not all ninja remember their ikebana from the eons past and serious miscommunications can happen if Shikamaru, let's say, decides to send Temari flower-messages for mission purposes and Ino gets paranoid."

Neji stopped a moment to think, and replied smartly, "So, you think that students, girls and boys alike, should not receive ikebana instruction either?"

Sakura huffed. "Girls are girls—they would naturally be more interested in ikebana as opposed to boys. Are you saying that instead of sharpening their wilderness skills, they should fiddle around with flower stems for an hour a week?"

Folding his arms, Neji shook his head. "That was not my intention; the organization of lesson hours is another debate of its own. And your argument is therefore flawed—girls and boys' education would be unequal."

Sakura grinned triumphantly. "And that's where you are definitively wrong. Female and male education—again, another debate for another day—has historically always been different. The arts of seduction? Can't have kunoichi trying to use the same pick-up lines as shinobi, can we?"

They had, along with the scattering of other families and couples walking with them, arrived at the village by this time, and Sakura plastered herself to Neji's side once more in companionable silence.

She looked up at him, face upturned. "I haven't been to a summer festival in a really long time, it seems."

Neji took the hint and gave her a chaste kiss. "Me neither. Active duty used to take up so much of my time that I forgot to enjoy the finer pleasures in life."

Sakura giggled happily into her sleeve and pulled him towards a stand selling fish-shaped treats filled with red-bean paste, a taiyaki.

Moments later, they retreated, Neji with the tail end of the taiyaki in one hand, Sakura's hand in the other. Sakura had already bitten into the head, scanning the crowd for Mura.

"Mura-san! This is my husband, Hyuuga Neji."

"Ah ha, the man of the hour! Sit, sit, let's hear a cuppa' of those ninja legends of yours, huh?" Mura motioned into a den of alcohol-toting shopkeepers and Neji allowed himself to be led in. Mura gestured to a woman standing by. "Hey, Riko, talk to Haruno-sama, will you?"

The slim woman cut a very traditional figure in her black kimono with pink cherry blossoms dancing across the hem. "It's nice to meet you, Haruno-sama. I am Tomoshibi Riko, Mura's younger sister."

"Hi! You can just call me Sakura-san, Riko-san. I've been meaning to shop for a few hairpins—I really like your set. Give me some advice?"

Sakura had guessed right about the woman's character. Riko puffed right up and nodded. "I know all the best deals around here. I was getting tired of waiting with Mura in his bar anyhow."

"Who were you waiting for?"

Riko blushed. "Oh, nothing, you know, I was just there for a little bit."

Sakura quieted and let Riko lead her to a stall full of baubles and bags. "Sayako-baa, are you in?"

An old voice sounded from the back. "Welcome to my shop—eh?" The old lady emerged from the dim lighting to squint at the two of them. "Oh, Riko, my dear, couldn't see you to save my life!"

Pushing her fashionable spectacles up higher, Sayako examined Sakura's visage. "And who's this new girl you've got here?"

Riko nudged Sakura forward. "This is Haruno Sakura, a newly moved in neighbor in the country estates. We're looking at the hairpins today."

"Ohhh, Sakura is it?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, I recommend either earthy tones or greens for you, dearie. Anything else would dull the shine on your hair terribly—if your husband is on the traditional side, don't do whites because that's a sure sign of funerals!"

Sakura nodded. "Thank you, Sayaka-obaa-san."

The old lady walked back to her seat at the register to help a young teen and her mother with a silk bag. "Just call me Sayako-baa, it's what I'm used to and it's a lot shorter!"

Sakura examined a few pins with interest. They weren't actually that bad. Her hair, over this period, had lengthened quite a bit, and she had not had anything to pin it up with for the festival back at the house.

"Riko-san, what do you think about these?" She held up a set of four kimono-fabric flowers adorning black hairpins, kanzashi. The pins had twinkling white pearls trembling from silk threads at the ends and seemed very nice.

Riko pinned up Sakura's pink hair expertly, magicking it into a bun, and declared them worthy. "We'll get this set, in Sakura's hair here, Sayako-baa!"

Sayako walked over, and Sakura snapped open her coin purse. "It's 1500 yen, right?"

"Yes, for the set. I hope to see you all later! I've got coin purses too, if that one doesn't hold up well. Oh, and I would run to the buttered potato stand before they run out—I had one earlier and it was quite good!"

Riko and Sakura chorused a "Got it!" before exiting the stand.

They visited the hot potato stand as Sayako had suggested and shared a potato over their chatting.

"So, you're newly married, Haruno-san?"

"Well, newly and happily so! Are you?"

Riko gave a mischievous smile. "You see, I was waiting to see if I could catch Watanabe-san as he walked by, but you came along, and so I abandoned hope."

Sakura gasped, "Oh, no! I'm sorry!"

"Well, it's not much of a problem. We've been…how can I say it, meeting here and there on the off-chance during every day errands, and I have a good feeling about it! It's not my first time having a bit of a crush, and Watanabe-san is really nice."

"I see—so have your families talked?"

Riko gave a sunny smile. "That's the thing! My parents, old as they were, had arranged it all with his parents before their deaths, and I'd been stuck in this loveless arranged thing for quite some time. I hadn't wanted to go through with it all and went off crushing shamelessly on other men, but Mura made me meet Watanabe-san before passing judgment, and I did!"

"Oh, that's romantic!"

"Isn't it?" Riko gushed. But she stopped, eyes sparkling. "And how is married life going for you?"

Sakura laughed, waving her hand, "You really are shameless, Riko-san! What a topic!"

Riko nudged Sakura as they weaved through the crowds, sampling food. "But really, how is it going? Is he…well, kind?"

Sakura tapped her chin conspiratorially. "I would say so—I thought that a Hyuuga wouldn't have much to do with being warm to their spouses, but he's _very_ warm. Especially at night."

And Sakura let Riko squeal on, feeling a bit torn for giving half lies so often. But to think of it, Neji was quite warm when he tried, and their marriage was progressing along quite well.

* * *

Neji was telling stories of shinobi legendry that any genin worth his certificate could tell in his sleep and having…fun, for once, entertaining these men with the simplistic stories. It took a lot to get a roaring reaction from a shinobi, and usually, the reaction wasn't at all on the side of pleasant laughter—it was more exploding anger or depression or the like. No, Neji, as stoic as he liked to be, was entertained by the easily entertained civilians. Almost charmed, if he wanted to stretch it that far.

"And can you do some tricks for us to see?"

Neji chuckled, and said, "I've pretty much renounced my ninja ways, so I have little to show in the way of skills."

The "aww"'s chorused throughout the bar—a huge crowd had gathered to hear the wild stories. There was a tap at his shoulder. He turned about to meet the flushed face of his "wife."

The men catcalled and hollered as Neji stood to wrap an arm about her shoulder. "Well, it seems I must answer the call of my wife."

Sakura waved prettily at the roomful of men and winked at Riko, seeing her friend follow a brown-haired man out the door sneakily. "It's nice to meet you all!"

* * *

Sakura was breathless on the way home, hopping about in her geta exuberantly. "It was the funniest thing! Riko stared down that squid seller like a pro and said, 'If I wasn't working in a bar, I wouldn't know how to deal with your kind!' and spun around just like that! The poor guy was speechless, having been caught by Riko rigging the weighing scale."

Neji allowed her to lace her fingers with his. "And what antics did you get up to, Sakura?"

Sakura drew away, hands clasped behind her back. "Well, I saw a fish-scooping game, you know, the ones with the rice-paper nets and live goldfish, and I thought it couldn't hurt to play around with the seller."

Neji smirked. The fish-scooping game was off limits to ninja in the Konohagakure summer festival and there were special stalls designed to challenge shinobi. But in a town like this, Sakura was bound to have done unsettlingly well. "Please, do not hesitate to enlighten me with your prowess."

"Oh, come on! I only caught two in one net; I swear I didn't cheat with chakra."

"Right."

The two stopped and looked up from the path at the sound of squealing fireworks. A burst of red and gold turned the inky sky into a blanket of shimmering sparks against a cloudy backdrop. The whizzing continued on, with large fireworks dotted by smaller showers, creating ellipses and streaks in the sky.

"It really is beautiful, isn't it?"

Neji stared solemnly, smoothing a hand over his forehead where the cursed seal had once been. "It is. Shall we continue?"

Sakura put her hand in his again as they moved forward on the path, accompanied by only the occasional family or pair.

"So what's the plan for the week, besides finishing the kitchen and the entertaining rooms?"

Neji sighed, looking up. "We should go to that art exhibit that Mura tipped us off about. It would do well for us to start talking in those circles and possibly invite some bigger names to the house-warming party if possible."

"Okay. I'll start writing the invitations, unless your penmanship is better?"

"It's quite alright, Sakura. I'll continue with the house repair and you can do all of the writing. Draft a list of names after we get back from the art exhibit and we can confirm it before we set it in stone."

"Right!"

By then, they had already reached the mansion. The gate creaked as Neji opened it, and he made a mental note to oil it later. They opened the front doors this time, and Sakura called from the now-furnished bedroom.

"Do you want to fill the hot tub for a soak?"

Neji thought it might be good to stick to traditional ways and replied, "If you wouldn't mind," as he padded up the grand staircase.

They took turns showering and scrubbing the sweat from the festival away and rejoined at the door to the mansion's bathhouse. Sakura was wearing some sort of kanzashi hairpins that he had not seen before, Neji noted, as well as a striped cotton yukata with a tie.

"You can go first, Sakura," Neji said, turning around to tie his hair.

"Alright." Sakura slipped off her yukata and slowly waded into the bath, exhaling softly. "It's so much better with Japanese baths…these Westernized showers with the pounding water get so busy sometimes."

Neji hmmed, and through the steam, Sakura could see him laying his yukata to the side. She looked pointedly away, grabbing a floating piece of fragrant wood as a momentary distraction. She'd seen plenty of unclothed men, but she didn't have to try and look at Neji if she didn't have to.

They sat in the bath quietly, minds alert but chakra relaxed. Sakura broke out of her reverie, beginning to mold another sphere from the water with her chakra.

"Neji, can you teach me some kata?"

"After the bath, perhaps some slow ones that do not require so much exertion."

She switched topics. "When did you start shinobi training?"

Brows quirking, Neji answered from across the bath. "I knew how to sharpen weaponry at age four and had already started kata by then."

Sakura sat up at this. "Wow! Four years old and already doing that sort of stuff?"

Neji shrugged. "It is all gymnastics until the weapons are in hand and speed and accuracy becomes a factor. When did you start?"

Sakura thought for a moment. "I started…probably at around seven or eight. I was enamored of the idea of becoming a ninja and wanted to show off something to my parents. I mean, the fact that Sasuke was from a ninja clan certainly didn't hurt my decision."

"And your parents were happy about this?"

"Of course, they didn't see the practicality of their only child going off to be a ninja, especially since they had already retired from that profession to do less risky stuff. But it helped that they had once been shinobi themselves."

"Aa. Where did you practice, if not in a dojo?" Neji couldn't imagine not being allowed to be a shinobi, let alone have to do so under the guidance of no-longer-shinobi parents.

Sakura shrugged. "I didn't. That's why I was so bad with basically everything that required me to move my body—taijutsu and ninjutsu. Genjutsu wasn't as bad because I could read the theory and practice little things on my father without having to move around. Taijutsu was just hopeless for me, and ninjutsu was very limited in the space I had."

Neji understood where her intellect came from. "With little else to occupy your time, you read."

"Copiously. I read the history of Konohagakure almost ten times total over those years and did theory for all three types of jutsu in my room on scrolls when other children ran home and did kata with their fathers."

"Interesting. I had been gifted with a bloodline and an environment that gave me the advantage and allowed me to excel more with the same amount of work. You achieved the same level as me in a different way, with nothing inherited but chakra control, which did not even surface as a skill until you were almost a chunin."

Sakura blushed at the compliments. "It's not much, anyway. I'm getting a bit warm—I'll meet you in the basement dojo in ten minutes, okay?"

Neji closed his eyes as Sakura stood and toweled herself off before putting the yukata on again.

* * *

Sakura had donned a hakama and gi, tying her hair in a low ponytail. Neji had left his hair free and was also wearing a hakama and gi. Their socks padded across the floor as Neji spoke.

"We'll start with a wide stance. Start with your feet together. Your toes need to be pointing opposite directions on a straight line."

Sakura was behind Neji and mirroring his movements. "Hai." ("Yes" in Japanese)

"Slowly open the stance to a wide stance." Neji came out of his stance to survey hers.

Sakura was stooped low in the stance, holding it easily. Neji took one of her hands in his and stretched it forward. "Imagine you are molding a ball of wind—Rasengan, if you will."

Sakura nodded, concentrating. Neji showed her the fluid movements once, and had her continue to do it as he circled around her to correct the stance.

"You are coming out of your stance—maintain it." Neji stepped forward to place pressure on both of her thighs, his chest close to her back.

Sakura couldn't find it in her to concentrate. With Neji standing so close, she could feel both of their hearts racing and knew neither of them really had any interest in kata at this point. "H-hai."

Neji tried in vain not to dwell—really, there was no need to be so close, but he decided he wanted to. It was ten minutes of repeating the kata later, when Neji allowed her to stand.

Her breath came in puffs as she stared at the corner of the dojo. "Thank you, Neji," Sakura intoned softly, turning to flee up the stairs.

Neji was motionless, mind racing as his eyes followed her up the stairs.

* * *

Sakura pressed her hands to her burning cheeks to cool them. It was a good thing there were no attacks tonight, or they both would have been woefully unprepared to respond in time. She looked about her and realized belatedly that they would be sleeping here, so her fleeing from the scene wasn't very useful at all. There was a ripple at the edge of her senses, and she reluctantly turned to face Neji. His face in shadow, Neji walked towards Sakura, who was looking somewhere out the window.

"Sakura."

"Neji."

Neji clasped her hand in his, cupping her jaw. "You forgot our agreement."

Sakura sighed dramatically, the tension broken, smiling to the side. "Of course, Hyuuga, the agreement."

Stretching to her tiptoes, she braced her hands on his shoulders to meet him halfway. Neji's hair curtained her face, filling her nose with the water-dampened scent of the fragrant wood from the bathtub.

Neji maneuvered her head in his hand even as his other hand traveled to her waist and gently kissed her. "Let's retire for the night," he murmured, lips against hers.

Sakura settled between the cream sheets that had come in from the post and turned on the nightshade. The green fabric of the shade cast a tinted glow on the scroll as she and Neji wrote their mission report for the night together in companionable silence.

* * *

Question: is the story moving too quickly? Are they becoming romantically involved too fast? Or do you want me to move to the real action (the daimyo) faster? Give me your thoughts and I'll do my best to accommodate it!


End file.
